It’s halftime. Both sides are in their conference room discussing what they can do to spin the terms of this agreement in the second half.

Your morning financial links, expertly curated.

The New York Times is reporting that the five largest mortgage servicing banks (Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial) and the Government have reached a $26 billion settlement…

And the term self-sustaining is starting to be tossed around.

But lost in all of this saliva-covered enthusiasm was the fact that Facebook’s de facto IPO had already occurred a long time ago. Yes, Facebook already went public, you just weren’t invited.

Video.

There are 4066 smaller brokerage left. I’m rooting for you guys, but it won’t be easy.

Video.

Well, now you’ve got that responsibility.