By Antony Currie and Rob Cox
The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own.

The exceptionalism of Goldman Sachs took another knock this week. For a brief period on Wednesday, shares of the Wall Street firm traded at a bigger discount to book value — or assets minus liabilities — than those of megabank rival JPMorgan. This rarely happens and suggests that investors fear the bank’s franchise, both as a trader of securities and financial adviser to corporations and governments, is somehow damaged.

By Antony Currie
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

JPMorgan started the banking sector’s third-quarter earnings season with a thud. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon was confronted by a triple whammy of falling revenue, lower releases from loan loss reserves and fallout from his own increasingly incendiary comments on regulation. But Dimon still managed to put on a brave face.

By Antony Currie
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Will Wells Fargo get hooked on Wall Street crack? The California-based lender mostly has resisted lower Manhattan’s siren call. But Wells kept Wachovia’s fledgling investment bank when it bought its struggling rival three years ago. It’s still hiring. A couple of senior M&A bankers joined just last week. But getting much bigger would come at a price.

By Antony Currie
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

It was a tall order, but America’s banking regulators have taken a good stab at devising a framework for the Volcker Rule. A draft of the document, obtained by the American Banker, suggests the Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Reserve, FDIC and Treasury minimized the most worrying aspect of the rule — that a prop-trading ban could undermine client-focused market-making. But it still leaves gray areas.

By Antony Currie
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Morgan Stanley’s October woes feel like a drama lacking a crisis. The Wall Street firm, which three years ago suffered a bank run, was already facing skepticism about its turnaround before the third quarter turned crummy. But that’s not behind its latest misery. Morgan Stanley’s stock tanked more than 10 percent on Friday after the cost of insuring its debt against default rose as investors again got the jitters about the investment bank’s exposure to Europe. But substance to the worries looks thin.

By Antony Currie
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Morgan Stanley’s board must have a strong sense of irony. It chose the third anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers to reinstate one of Wall Street’s uglier traditions: combining the roles of chairman and chief executive. James Gorman will assume John Mack’s duties when he steps down as chairman at year’s end. That’s disappointing.

By Antony Currie
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

The 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is rightly focused on the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives — and the impact on friends, loved ones and the broader population. But there’s yet another way the tragedy could be honored: with more honesty about the economic consequences of decisions taken following the event, and calling for some shared financial sacrifice.

By Antony Currie
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Bank of America’s shareholders are resigning themselves to life on skid row. Fears of a dilutive capital hike have helped send the stock down to just 30 percent of book value. The worries may prove overblown. Even so, BofA’s long-running mortgage saga has moved a seemingly endless list of litigants ahead of equity investors in the pecking order.