It’s Not Over!
Even with the cheerleaders trying to put a sunny face on the credit crisis we’re still not out of the woods yet. We’ve had another bank failure and we’re still looking at billions in write downs. But feel free to sing “the sun will come out tomorrow” if it makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Some of the dour news of the day - just to make sure the message isn’t being lost on everyone.
From Market Watch:
U.S. stocks dropped on Monday, retreating from the last session’s strong gains, as oil remained near $115 a barrel and as concerns about mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued to weigh on investor sentiment.
“Financial stresses are still permeating global financial systems, despite massive accommodation from the Fed,” said analysts at Action Economics.
And Bloomberg:
AIG, the world’s largest insurer, tumbled 5 percent after Credit Suisse Group said the company may lose $2.41 billion this quarter on mortgage-related writedowns. Huntington Bancshares Inc. and KeyCorp each dropped more than 3 percent after Columbian Bank & Trust Co. became the ninth U.S. bank to collapse this year.
Morgan Stanley cut its year-end forecast for the S&P 500 on concern banks will report more credit-related writedowns and the global economic slowdown will curb profits at technology and industrial companies.
“Our biggest concern for 2009 earnings estimates is that a combination of global growth slowdown, declining operating leverage, a stronger U.S. dollar, less share count reduction and a long tail to dysfunctional credit markets will create powerful headwinds for what appear to very optimistic consensus expectations,” Abhijit Chakrabortti wrote in a note to clients dated yesterday.