Posted on 01/15/2009 3:02:01 PM PST by gpk9
NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of major U.S. banks plunged Thursday as the government mulled giving Bank of America Corp. a fresh multibillion-dollar aid package, raising fears on Wall Street that the battered financial sector may need an even bigger bailout.
Bank of America shares fell as much as 28 percent -- dropping to their lowest level in 18 years -- on news that the bank may seek another capital injection to manage losses from its takeover of Merrill Lynch. Citigroup Inc. shares fell to a near 16-year low as investors braced for horrible fourth-quarter earnings due Friday. And JPMorgan Chase & Co. added to the pessimism with a grim earnings outlook. Shares of all three banks came off their lows later in the day as part of a broad market turnaround.
Still, the carnage fanned investor fears that mounting bank losses and a darkening economic outlook are thwarting government efforts to resuscitate the banking sector. It raised the distinct possibility that the largest financial rescue package in history may swell even further.
"The perception on Wall Street is that things are getting worse and that the banks are bearing the brunt," said Jack A. Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago.
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(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
DITTO!! And, 30% down on houses I planned to rent.
I don't know.
Some unforseen incident that bares the shallow depth of the JIT food distribution system in the US. If to many people run out to buy groceries at the same time (just about anywhere), the 'thinness' begins to show...I saw that here in Mobile during the Katrina fiasco.
The 2nd busiest Wal-Mart in the world (the one on I-10 in Mobile)was struggling to keep something on the shelves and I-10 looked like a parking lots for miles. Many people ran out of gas, the electricity was off in 95 degree heat and 'things' almost snapped then.
I stayed home, locked my gate and loaded my guns, LOL.
What is JIT?
You’re right about not taking long for the stores to run out of food. Everyone should have as much food as they can on hand ... and shouldn’t advertise it.
Let's bring back debtors' prisons. For the poor, anyway. The rich will get bailouts.
Yes. The Bank of South America was doing that.
Sounds exactly like every new car purchase in the (now)USSA. No one complains about that. Whats your point. A contract is a contract.
I'm 52 and have never purchased a new car for that reason. I've always bought used.
You buy a house to live in, not as a market hedge. If that is the reason for the purchase, you just joined the commodities market with all its inherent risk.
How can a institution like CITIBACK lose $160 billion in 2 years and be considered a viable business?
Sorry but, that's Bull Shit.
Bernanke, Paulson and the rest of these financial geniuses, are the ones who either directly caused this mess or conveniently overlooked the coming economic failure.
You can throw in the entire industry, all of Congress and the President. They all knew.
The Fed screwed up by inverting the yield curve and keeping it that way for a long time, but the Fed has been doing idiotic things like that for over 70 years. Bernanke also got it wrong along with Paulson when they said subprime was contained. However, I am 100% correct in saying that he is the lone leader for doing what will allow the economy to recover.
I wasn’t meaning to be smart or offensive. If you read my comments that way, please accept my apology.
Good post. The velocity problem makes the Obama stimulus package a bad idea.
I predict it will start about March. That’s when the folks will realize how bad it really is.
The strategy of forcing political change through orchestrated crisis. The “Cloward-Piven Strategy” seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse.
Sad but true. Who is behind it all? We know Soros is.
Ken Lewis - CEO wanted to make lots of loans to illegal aliens. All those mortgages now are going belly up, Pedro is driving his new pickup loaded with his flat screen TV and other loot back to Mexico. Bank of America will never collect on his truck loan and credit cards charged up to the max as he drives back to Mexico or other parts.
I thought Sarbanes Oxley was going to insure that these frauds would never occur. Stan O’Neil also did an incredible job destroying Merrill Lynch.
Have Ben print up a couple $100 trillion bank notes. Then banks will return to super awesome land!
I had previously heard back in December that it would really start dawning on folks how bad the financial/economic situation is around February as a host of business bankruptcies and failings started announcing, so it'll probably take until March for it to dawn on them that their money is at risk in the banks and we'll see a tide of withdrawals begin, so your prediction lines up with what I've heard.
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