The glass ceiling on Wall Street is getting lower.

The abrupt removal of Erin Callan as Lehman’s chief financial officer yesterday (along with Joe Gregory as Lehman’s chief administrative officer) is first and foremost a sign of Lehman’s fight to regain credibility among investors.

But it also means that Ms Callan, who was dubbed “Wall Street’s most powerful woman” in the April issue of Portfolio magazine is powerful no more. She is being unceremoniously bumped down to “a senior position” in the investment banking division.

Ms Callan’s move follows the firing of Zoe Cruz, the previous holder of the “most powerful woman on Wall Street” title. She was dismissed as president of Morgan Stanley last November by John Mack, its chairman and chief executive. Read more

Lou Dobbs is very annoying.

Having got this off my chest, I can go on to say why the CNN cable news host, who takes to the air most nights in the US to complain about illegal immigration and free trade has riled me.

As detailed admirably by Andrew Ross Sorkin in the New York Times, Mr Dobbs’ latest populist crusade against foreign ownership of US assets concerns CSX, the US railway company that has been attacked by The Children’s Investment Fund, the London-based hedge fund.

Mr Dobbs described it the other night on CNN as “a new threat to national security and sovereignty” because investors in this “shadowy foreign investment fund” may include sovereign wealth funds. You can see the video here. Read more

Lehman Brothers’ announcement this morning that it is seeking $6bn in fresh capital after making a $2.8bn loss in the second quarter shows that things remain tough on Wall Street.

To go with it, here is an anecdote about employment conditions in investment banking that you can treat with as much seriousness as you wish. Read more