It's mainly concerns about economic weakness all over the globe and what it will do to the U.S.. The common refrain has been that the Asian crisis shouldn't have a big impact on the U.S. economy. Now with Russia's problems, people are reassessing that belief.

I think that the cost savings available in the deal are very real, and the deal should be accretive to Fleet's earnings, which is good thing financially, but what the banking industry in general has to prove to the investment world is that they can cross-sell additional products to all of those retail and small business and commercial banking customers. If they show real revenue growth doing these types of cross-selling activities, then a deal like this really might be something to get excited about.

Long-term rates are below the federal fund rate. That tells you the Fed's too tight. The reason the 30-year Treasury is so low is because people are expecting an economic slowdown, and that's not going to be good for earnings.

One thing this [deal] does underscore is that the investment banking business has become a global business in a hurry and if you don't have a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic you might as well not show up.

We've been telling our clients that their portfolios should be over-weighted in investment services and credit cards. Those are the two segments of the financial services industry that we think have the best fundamentals. And we stick by that advice right now.

I was surprised at the fact that AXA Financial had spent so much time and money trying to build DLJ, especially build its presence in Europe the last couple of years and now it's pulling the ripcord.