Today's column. Read the whole thing here.

Legg Mason CEO Mark R. Fetting is "gratified to see some daylight on the horizon." There is "some performance improvement" in Legg's mutual funds, he told analysts on yesterday's conference call. "The fundamentals are encouraging."

But just in case, Legg is raising $1 billion in emergency capital. Another $1 billion - on top of the $1.25 billion it raised by selling convertible debt to buyout giant KKR in January.

Watch what Fetting does, not what he says. It's nice that he thinks markets may be recovering from the subprime mortgage disaster.

Other financial bosses are saying the same thing. But the rainy-day cash about to land in Legg's treasury says he knows there's significant risk he is wrong.