Perhaps a mania isn't really over until the regulators have their final say. By that measure, we may be on the road to putting the recent mortgage-driven crisis behind. Prosecutors and regulators seem to be in overdrive, bent on turning over stones across Wall Street--from CDS (CDS news) and CDO (CDO news) practices, to credit rating practices, to muni-bond practices. Add to that a host of structural issues that the SEC (SEC news) is looking into related to sponsored access, high frequency trading (high-frequency trading news) and the recent Flash Crash.

And of course there's the insider trading scandals that are heating up, not to mention stepped up attempts to make sure another Bernard Madoff (Bernard Madoff news) doesn't make a mockery of the law. It remains to be seen if a high-profile criminal proceeding will emerge. It all adds up to a period of intense activity that one has to regard as a good sign. Perhaps what's needed is sort of macro, global settlement that draws in all the top firms, one that would be even more encompassing that the tainted research settlement of five years ago. 

For more:
- here's article from the Financial Times about the probe

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