RJ and Makay

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Financial stocks are off to a hot start this year.  The easing of the European debt crisis, improvement in the U.S. economy and the recent $25 billion settlement by large U. S. mortgage lenders has had a bullish effect on asset managers.  During the seven-week period ended February 15, fund managers purchased about $3.2 billion net shares in banks, according to fund tracker EPFR Global.

Just two weeks ago, it looked for sure like Goldman Sachs would be crowned the number one M&A dealmaker of 2010. But Morgan Stanley nipped them at the tape.

Morgan Stanley finished the year with 356 M&A deals worth a combined $594.6 billion, according to investment banking facilitator Dealogic. Second-place finisher Goldman Sachs completed 346 deals worth $580.6 billion. Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan finished a distant third and fourth place, respectively.