The News: Slowing Layoffs in Mortgage Business

Maybe it's a small thing, but mortgage-related layoffs eased during 2008's fourth quarter, and may be approaching their bottom, says MortgageDaily.com. Once new hires were factored in, 7,721 jobs were lost. That's a lot, but it's sure a better number than the 2007 period's: 16,711.

Mortgage Job Losses Ease [MortgageDaily.com]

And...

Is Morgan Stanley-Citi's brokerage obsolete? [Bloomberg]

Monika Machon becomes senior vice president and CIO of AIG [Pensions & Investments]

Goldman Sachs buys commodities unit from Constellation Energy [RTT News]

The times catch up with interdealer-brokers [Financial News]

Toshiharu Kojima will lead UBS in Japan [WSJ]

Surprise! Fourth quarter was the worst ever for asset managers [Reuters via NY Times]

Janney hires Matthew Levin to cover municipal capital markets in N.J., Pa. [Newswire]

Been down so long, breaking even looks good [Soc Gen - pdf]