Definition of pathetic fallacy
Life imitates art. And art often imitates reality. But can the instability of a bank headquarters predict the undoing of their shares?
First it was Bank of Montreal’s (BMO:TSX) Toronto HQ, First Canadian Place (see post “First Canadian Place is shedding its skin“, May 17-07). Huge pieces of marble tumbed to King and Adelaide Streets in 2007, causing the closure of major thoroughfares as engineers inspected the 30 year-old facing. (Look up at the tower from King Street today and you’ll see signs that more than 60 chunks large enough to split a human skull fell between 2002 and 2005, long before the road-closing slab hit the sidewalk last Spring.)
Sure enough, BMO’s share price fell from $69 to $55 soon thereafter with the news of their major stake in various SIVs, subprime, etc (see post “The self-serving but sensible ‘bailout’“, October 16-07).
Last evening, the massive sign gracing CIBC’s (CM:TSX) Toronto HQ fell to the ground. Something about a “gust of wind”. CIBC’s share price has already dropped $30 from the levels reached last May — well covered here (see prior posts ending with “When US$330 million of subprime becomes US$1.7 billion at CIBC“, November 13-07) — but one has to wonder if Mother Nature isn’t telling us something. Is there more room to fall yet?
MRM
Or, like some others, it, the poor sign finally just had had enough of that place, thank you very much?
In recent years, more than a few quite talented but frustrated people have found other (fortunately for them), less drastic means of escaping the particular environment of that silver tower.
maybe not so surprising the very signage itself is now revolting?
Thanks for this post. I was appreciating the irony myself this morning as I strolled in to my work this morning – across the street – from 199 Bay st.
In the end, maybe a big reshuffle and/or firing a swath of VPs will solve the problems of CIBC. After all, that strategy sure worked well the last 5-6 times the bank has tried that in the last 7 years or so…
Tick, tick, tick.