2001 Review: Wall Street Winces

Call it a year of reckoning.

In 2001, Wall Street was forced to answer for the flagrant excesses of the 1990s in so many ways. Steep declines in trading and the once-lucrative IPO market eroded business and profit margins. Investors who lost their shirts in the downturn raised a chorus of boos against brokerages and analysts, accusing them of actionable grandiosity in legal challenges.

The industry has been scrambling to get its house in order. Global operations and lower-end services, many of which were added during the '90s, have been scaled back. After huge staffing drives, thousands of industry employees have lost their jobs, while many others have seen pay and bonuses scuppered. Spendthrift executives and high-profile analysts who burned investors with bad stock picks have been ousted.

Boom to Bust

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