Lunchtime Links: Credit Suisse hiring, Goldman Sachs firing

Investment banking headcount at Credit Suisse (CS) continues to defy gravity. According to the bank's third-quarter results, released today, the Swiss bank's investment banking operations now employ 800 more people than at the end of the second quarter and 5% more people than this time last year.

Bloomberg reports that CS has added 340 private bankers in the year to date and that the bank is adding 'resources to commodities, equity derivatives and prime services'. On the other hand, it's apparently been reducing headcount in leveraged finance, mortgage-backed securities and CDOs. Unfortunately, none of this headcount tinkering has had the desired effect on profits: the bank reported a CHF1.26bn ($1.08bn) loss, thanks to additional writedowns on structured products and leveraged finance. Keefe Bruyette & Woods noted that the results were 'miserable' and said the Credit Suisse investment bank wouldn't have hit breakeven even if the writedowns hadn't occurred.

Goldman cutting 10% of jobs. (Wall Street Journal)

Time to fly economy. (Bloomberg)

Lehman and Singer & Friedlander seek pensions bailout. (Telegraph)

Lehman CDS now fully processed. (Alea)

Is the credit crunch a myth? (Clusterstock)

Mirage of mended balance sheets won't last long. (Alphaville)

Relative performance of industry sectors vs S&P global index. (The Big Picture)

Emerging market default probabilities. (Deutsche Bank)

Powder in the post. (CNN)

Short selling ban nasty for hedge funds. (The Times)

Pound hits five-year low. (Bloomberg)

US stocks hit five-year low. (FT)

Asian stocks hit four-year low. (Bloomberg)

The worst is yet to come. (Clusterstock)

Bankers go zen. (Bloomberg)