Top Wall Street bankers testified before The Crisis Commission whose job it is to find out what went wrong during the financial meltdown. The Chairman of the ten member commission is Phil Angelides,

Mr Angelides grilled Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs GS about its practice of first selling sub prime mortgage securities to investors and then selling them short, betting that the securities would go down. Blankfein answered that Goldman did not have a legal obligation to disclose when it was betting against the securities it was selling. In reply, Angelides said: "Sounds a little bit to like selling a used car with faulty brakes and then buying insurance on the driver."

Today was a day which could have gone either way. The data was light and the market is on hold for earnings. But Congressional inquiries today with top bank executives did not have an angry nor threatening tone as you have seen in other unrelated hearings of the past. This helped the financial sector and the market. The Fed's Beige Book also gave no end in sight for near-zero rates.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,680.77 +53.51 (0.50%)
S&P 500 1,145.68 +9.46 (0.83%)
Nasdaq 2,307.90 +25.59 (1.12%)

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There is legislation in both the House and Senate aimed at breaking up large banks that are deemed: "Too big to fail."

Against this backdrop, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) said "If some unforeseen circumstance should put this firm at risk of collapse, we should be allowed to fail."

Dimon went on to say writing in Friday's Washington Post: "The term 'too big to fail' must be excised from our vocabulary." Dimon also argued against limiting banks' size saying that increased scale can benefit customers.

Who does our Treasury Secretary speak to most of the time? Yup. You guessed it. It's the big three bankers.

Who are they? First, we have Lloyd Blankenstein, CEO of Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE GS). Then we have Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Company (NYSE JPM) and then CEO, Vikam Pandt of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE C).

You are probably also wondering how do we know this? The Associated Press did a review of Geithner's calendar under the Freedom of Information Act.

In his first seven months on the job, Geithner made at least 80 contacts with the "big three." Not only that Geithner jumps to the phone when they call. They are the dominant players on Wall Street who can move markets and even economies.

Consumer bankruptcies have already spiked more than 30% this year, and it looks like the trend shows no signs of flagging. The American Bankruptcy Institute predicts that the tally could hit 1.4 million by the end of the year. So, although there are some experts signaling that the economy is on the upswing, the downstream effects of bankruptcy on consumer spending and corporate balance sheets are going to make it difficult for the market to turn the corner.

In July, more than 126,000 people filed for bankruptcy protection, and the filing rate was up 36.5% for the first six months of 2009 relative to the same period in 2008. The problem is affecting every rung of the social ladder.

Stocks felt choppy all day, although the late day move and afternoon stability allowed stocks to have another solid day. Housing starts added some strength, and the buyers are still deciding they need to be in rather than out of the market.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,746.51 +25.07 (0.29%)
S&P 500 945.36 +2.49 (0.26%)
Nasdaq 1,836.89 +8.21 (0.45%)

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JP Morgan Chase & Company (NYSE JPM) held its annual shareholder meeting with Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer holding court.

Among his jabs against the Administration he complained that the rules against hiring foreigners was a "complete and utter disgrace." We might ask Mr. Dimon if he plans to hire another Chinese mathematician such as David X Li, whom JP Morgan Chase hired in 2000. Mr. Li developed a formula that created a single number from which traders bet billions of dollars in the past decade in derivatives which eventually brought the country to its knees when the housing bubble burst. This may help to explain why JP Morgan Chase has $87.7 trillion of derivatives "off the books." We might ask Mr Dimon to disclose the exact position in derivatives that he holds "off the books." Wouldn't that make fascinating reading?

Today looked like the traditional broke American spender of the past. Lower income, increased spending. We also saw waves of profit taking ahead of the weekend as the last two weeks have been some of the best moves seen in years in years. Here were today's unofficial closing levels:

Dow 7,776.18 -148.38 (-1.87%)
S&P 500 815.94 -16.92 (-2.03%)
Nasdaq 1,545.20 -41.80 (-2.63%)

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Today ended up on an unofficial closing bell basis (official DJIA level may change as late as 4:30), but that was not the case all day and the "win" felt more mixed than like another consecutive rally.

But a win is a win no matter how sloppy it gets. The US Deficit has reached a record $765 billion in just five months. And here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 6,930.40 +3.91 (0.06%)
S&P 500 721.36 +1.76 (0.24%)
Nasdaq 1,371.64 +13.36 (0.98%)

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Following a meeting with CEO Jamie Dimon on Feb. 6, Citigroup analyst Keith Horowitz believes that JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) could be among the first banks to repay its indebtedness under the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

"Clearly there is a risk of future government interference, which is why we believe management would like to get out," noted Horowitz. However, while Dimon thinks banking industry returns will be compressed during the intermediate term due to the government's involvement, he doesn't see any significant changes to JPMorgan's long-term outlook.

Yesterday, business reporter Charlie Gasparino wrote in The Daily Beast that JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) and its CEO Jamie Dimon, would be the next big financial institution for fall apart. He wrote, "But Dimon is feeling that heat, nonetheless, from analysts, who believe his firm will post a loss this quarter, the first since he became CEO."

Well, maybe so, but throwing stones at the people who have done well in an industry that has not is easy, perhaps too easy. If JP Morgan does lose money, it will join a long line of other firms that have done so. If its loss is modest, it will still be better off than most if not all of its peers.

Banks may be the most heavily followed companies on Wall Street. Analysts and the press crawl over the PR and financial reports, looking for bad news. That means the market should be relatively efficient at putting values on them, especially after two years of humiliation in which they got those values wrong.

If the Street is right, JPM still has a brighter future than rivals Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC). Over the last six months, JPM shares declined about 10%. BAC is down almost 40% and Citi is off almost 60%.

It may be a little early to write that JPM obit.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Wonder what happened to the hard earned money you paid in taxes? I can't account for all of it but $540 billion that went to six financial institutions is being used, in part, to operate 27 corporate jets. I may be the only one who feels this way, but I don't think the survival of the global economy depends on using taxpayer money to pay for financial executives to fly on their own corporate jets.

Here are the six financial institutions with the amount of taxpayer money they received and the number of corporate jets they're still flying:

• American International Group Inc (NYSE: AIG). $150 billion, seven corporate jets
• Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C). $330 billion, four jets. (The $330 billion includes Citi's initial $25 billion in TARP money plus its more recent $305 billion in loan guarantees.)
• Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC). $25 billion, one jet
• Bank of America (NYSE: BAC). $25 billion, nine jets -- its CEO Ken Lewis used $127,643 worth of its corporate jets
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) . $25 billion, four jets -- its CEO Jamie Dimon's personal use of its corporate aircraft totaled $211,182 in 2007
• Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS). $10 billion, two jets -- its CEO John Mack's personal use of its corporate aircraft totaled $358,882 in 2007

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Chief Executive Jamie Dimon is the new king of Wall Street whose power rivals his company's namesake John Pierpont Morgan.

Over the past year, Dimon managed to steer JPMorgan away from the subprime credit crisis while managing to keep his company's stock from cratering like his competitors'. First, he absorbed Bear Stearns after it went out of business. Now, Dimon has managed to pick up Washington Mutual Inc. (NYSE: WM) -- the good parts of it anyway -- for $1.9 billion. The deal is accretive in 2009.

Dimon is proving to be Wall Street's shrewdest manager. He did not get to be so successful by being a teddy bear. Indeed, reports abound about his abrasive personality. But unlike other Wall Street CEOs, Dimon knows his job is to work for the shareholders. Dimon's zeal for cost-cutting knows no bounds. He got rid of expensive technology outsourcing contracts, figuring the company could do the work cheaper itself.

DealBook reports that JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon let out some bad news on JPMorgan's conference call today. Despite beating estimates, DealBook reported that JP Morgan's highest quality, so-called Prime mortgages, were, as Dimon said, "terrible, and we're sorry. We can say it eight times. It looks terrible."

Prime mortgages are not supposed to behave like subprime ones. But disappointment seems to be the big theme with the mortgage industry. Prime mortgages barely defaulted at all in the second quarter of 2007 -- JPMorgan wrote off 0.05% of them a year ago -- taking a $4 million charge. But in the same quarter of 2008, JPMorgan wrote off 0.91% -- and charged off $104 million.

And Dimon expects those Prime losses to triple -- to $300 million. If there's any good news, that $300 million is a mere 15% of the net income it earned this quarter. Still, it suggests the depth of the economic problems that lie ahead.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

Bloomberg News reports that Lehman Brothers Holdings (NYSE: LEH) wants to sell $4 billion in equity. But it already raised $6 billion so why does it need more? It should be no surprise -- but thanks to a chorus of statements by financial leaders that "the worst is over" -- including Lehman's CEO Richard Fuld, Jamie Dimon, Hank Paulson, and Barton Biggs some are surprised that there are still problems.

Since the crisis began -- last August when the Fed began cutting rates from 5.25% to 2% -- banks have been trying to reduce their ratio of debt to equity below the hugely risky 32:1. But it's hard when they hold $500 billion worth of Level 3 assets -- which don't trade and therefore have no objectively set market value. To maintain or improve their capital ratios, banks have been writing down the value of the securities on their books -- $276 billion worth so far -- and simultaneously raising capital. Citigroup (NYSE: C) has raised the most -- $44 billion.

S&P downgraded Lehman, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) saying they may disclose more write-downs for devalued assets. And hedge fund manager David Einhorn -- who's short Lehman -- got into a verbal debate with Lehman CFO Erin Callan arguing that Lehman had failed to disclose $6 billion worth of such Level 3 assets -- known as Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) and it needed to raise capital. Today's announcement suggests that Einhorn was right.

Just because executives act like cheerleaders, it doesn't mean investors should take them at their word.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He owns Citigroup shares and has no financial interest in the other securities mentioned