Business Insight Zone

The financial press has rightly been preoccupied with the fallout of the ongoing credit crunch. Analysts and journalists guess — constantly, incessantly — about how well individual financial houses, whether investment banks, hedge funds, private equity shops, or what have you, will weather the storm.

Between Tuesday and Thursday of this week, though, we will get some valuable hard data about the effects of the market turmoil on some of Wall Street’s biggest players, as Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, and Goldman Sachs report quarterly figures. I’ll be especially interested to find out Bear Stearns’s numbers, given the recent collapse in value of two of its hedge funds tied closely to the subprime mortgage market.

“Supposing is good, finding out is better.”

–Samuel Clemens