Bankers Take the Spotlight

The uncertainty that caused last week's dramatic stock market swings and central bank interventions will stoke investors' fears for a while, but traders likely will know more next week about the illiquid credit valuations behind the turmoil.

As the dust settles after a week in which the Dow Jones Industrial Average had both its single biggest advance this year and its second-biggest decline, investment banks will likely be working overtime.

The largest Wall Street brokerage firms have been trying to mark to market or determine the market value of illiquid esoteric securities that have gone sour in the ripple effects of the subprime mortgage meltdown. ...