NEW YORK, Aug 22 (Reuters) – Advanced Equities Financial
Corp is selling First Allied Securities Inc to the independent
brokerage’s management in a deal financed by Lovell Minnick
Partners, the firms said on Monday.

San Diego-based First Allied said it will keep its name and
executive officers, while not changing its day to day
operations. The transaction is expected to be completed in the
fourth quarter. Terms were not disclosed.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Income-generating stocks and bonds can provide stability and reassurance during volatile periods.

Andrew Morse, a veteran broker at HighTower Advisors LLC in New York, steers some of his affluent clients toward dividend-paying companies with modest debt loads and operations in faster-growing regions such as Asia.

NEW YORK, Aug 19 (Reuters) – Income-generating stocks and
bonds can provide stability and reassurance during volatile
periods.

Andrew Morse, a veteran broker at HighTower Advisors LLC in
New York, steers some of his affluent clients toward
dividend-paying companies with modest debt loads and operations
in faster-growing regions such as Asia.

NEW YORK, Aug 17 (Reuters) – Ladenburg Thalmann Financial
Services Inc (LTS.A: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Wednesday said it would buy brokerage
firm Securities America from its parent, Ameriprise Financial
Inc (AMP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for $150 million in cash.

Miami-based Ladenburg, which owns other independent
brokerages, agreed to make additional cash payments if
Securities America meets certain targets in the next two
years.

NEW YORK, Aug 12 (Reuters) – For the second time in three
years, recruiters are swarming over Merrill Lynch brokers as
clouds loom over their employer.

Bank of America’s (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) stock price plunged 27 percent in
the past three weeks — and is half the level of its 52-week high
in January — amid worries the bank may need to raise an estimated
$50 billion to cover more losses on toxic mortgages.

NEW YORK, Aug 9 (Reuters) – With Bank of America Corp
(BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) stock in freefall, Chief Executive Brian Moynihan moved
to reassure employees the beleaguered bank was on the right
path and could weather the current storm.

“We are aggressively taking action to put the legacy
mortgage issues behind the company — even at great short-term
cost — and to help get the U.S. housing market going again,”
he said in a letter to nearly 288,000 employees late on Monday.
“We have weathered challenging times before and we will now.”

NEW YORK, Aug 9 (Reuters) – With Bank of America Corp
(BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) stock in freefall, Chief Executive Brian Moynihan moved
to reassure employees that the big, bloodied bank was on the
right path and could weather the current storm.

“We are aggressively taking action to put the legacy
mortgage issues behind the company — even at great short-term
cost — and to help get the U.S. housing market going again,”
he said in a letter to the bank’s nearly 288,000 employees late
on Monday. “We have weathered challenging times before and we
will now.”

NEW YORK, Aug 8 (Reuters) – Stifel Financial Corp (SF.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
said on Monday its second-quarter profit fell 84 percent as the
investment bank and brokerage absorbed charges related to a
lawsuit and a regulatory probe as well as costs stemming from
its Thomas Weisel Partners takeover last year.

Positive results across most of Stifel were wiped out by an
ongoing lawsuit related to its sales of collateralized debt
obligations to five Wisconsin school districts. Stifel said on
Monday it purchased notes with a face value of $162.5 million
at a significant but undisclosed discount.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – While even wealthy Americans are concerned about how a struggling economy and rocky markets will affect their retirement plans, people in their 20s and 30s may be losing hope that investing can make them rich.

Many individuals with more than $250,000 to invest are worried they may not save enough money to sustain them for the rest of their lives, Merrill Lynch found in a quarterly survey. Respondents cited economic weakness and roller-coaster markets, along with rising healthcare and college costs,

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street’s advice to investors battered by plunging markets: Keep buying stocks.

With markets plunging for more than a week, and no relief in sight, some of the biggest brokerages on Thursday afternoon and early on Friday told their advisers that clients should not flee but instead buy into the panic.