Morgan, Wells: Wednesday's Headlines

Wednesday's Early Headlines

• BOE's King Suggests Splitting Up Big Banks -- Bloomberg reports that Bank of England Governor Mervyn King warned of the dangers posed by banks that are "too important to fail," indicating that one solution could be to split up large banks and separate riskier activities from more stable businesses such as taking deposits. "The massive support extended to the banking sector around the world, while necessary to avert economic disaster, has created possibly the biggest moral hazard in history," King said in a speech, according to the report.
• Geithner Says Some TARP Programs to End -- Reuters reports that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the Obama administration will close some programs at the heart of the $700 billion financial bailout. Geithner told Reuters the administration will begin to wind down the programs that initially defined the Troubled Asset Relief Program, and will instead focus on more targeted programs in principal areas where there's still weakness in terms of access to credit.
• Sun Microsystems Slashes 3,000 Jobs -- Sun Microsystems (JAVA) has announced plans to cut 3,000 jobs as the tech giant awaits EU approval of its $7.4 billion acquisition by Oracle (ORCL). Sun said in a regulatory filing that the headcount reduction was forced by the delay in closing the deal. The cuts will come over the next 12 months, with the company incurring charges between $75 million and $125 million. Most of the charges will be incurred in the second and third quarters of fiscal 2010, Sun added.
• Merrill's European Head of Wealth Management Quits -- Bloomberg reports that Bank of America (BAC) Merrill Lynch's European head of wealth management, Eva Castillo, will leave the firm at the end of the year. No replacement has been named for Castillo, who is leaving to pursue other career and personal opportunities.

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