With about 15 minutes left in the session on Friday, it looked like we were going to end the week on a positive note. Seriously, I was jazzed. But no luck.

We can only hope today is better. The Hang Sang was up over 10%, Europe is green, and the Dow and S&P are up sharply at the open.

Also, word has it that the Brits are injecting billions into their big banks. Moreover, there’s talk that a stimulus plan here in the States could occur after the election.

Here’s what I’m seeing today.

General Motors (GM)
There’s been chatter that the company's in talks with Chrysler/Cerberus. The speculation is that Cerberus would take GMAC, while GM would combine forces with Chrysler. The assumption is that the 2 could potentially save gobs of money through layoffs and factory closures.

My take: I think this is kind of like putting 2 sick people in a room and hoping they'll get better. Isn’t it a little too late for this? Could the 2 generate enough “synergies” quickly enough to save the day? I’m skeptical that combining forces is the answer at this point, and I plan on steering clear.

Morgan Stanley (MS)
Hot off the presses: Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group just bought a 21% stake in Morgan for $9 billion - $7.8 billion in perpetual non-cumulative convertible preferred stock and $1.2 non-convertible preferred.

Long story short: I think that the stock will pop on the news. After all, Morgan Stanley needed this dough. The bad news: The preferred is a hefty price to pay. (As an aside: if I were long Morgan Stanley I’d probably use a bump up today to bail.)

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