Miserable Week on Wall Street as Economic Fears Persist (Worst Weekly Point Loss Since 9/11)

[sabra]

Source: AP

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street finished a turbulent week with another huge drop Friday after major banks warned of further losses on their debt portfolios, raising investor concerns that the credit market slump shows no sign of abating. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 220 points.

Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wachovia Corp. all said the ongoing credit crisis will cause another round of heavy losses during the fourth quarter. Financial institutions took big hits during the last quarter as losses from subprime mortgages hurt their balance sheets.

BofA said continued "market dislocations," including those related to securities it owns that are backed by loans, will affect its fourth-quarter results. The bank did not provide an estimate of how large the impact will be. JPMorgan said difficult conditions may cause a fourth-quarter writedown, but did not say how much.

Wachovia, the nation's fourth-largest bank said it faced a $1.1 billion writedown for October alone. Investors also were rattled by speculation that Barclays PLC was about to announce a $10 billion writedown, though the U.K. bank denied the rumors.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/MarketTalk/story?id=3845...

[Trillo]

1. Without the fall in the dollar,

I wonder how much lower the stock indices would be.

[Acadia Blue]

6. good point

[ozone_man]

16. About 8,000 relative to 2000 Dollar/Euro ratio.

So, it has dropped quite a bit as value in Euros.

[Solar_Power]

17. What's the connection?

btw drop of dollar and drop in stocks?

[ozone_man]

18. The worth of stocks in "real" money

like Gold has gone way down, but also it's value in Euros or Canadian dollars has dropped considerably, at least 30% since 2000, while giving the appearances of gaining about 20%. An illusion, but it becomes real if you visit foreign countries or buy foreign goods.

[HereSince1628]

2. Step 1, buy mattress, Step 2, cut slit in side, Step 3 shove greenbacks into stuffing

Well, maybe sort of, in a figurative sort of way...It sure looks like capital protection is a bigger issue than making any gains from the market.

[Zorra]

4. Down in Mexico we use the Bank of Nalgene.

Nalgene bottles are great for stuffing with cash and burying.

I completely stopped using financial systems in July of 2001.

[Acadia Blue]

7. I was in Mexico a long time ago and knew lots of Mexicans who

bought gold coins and hid them instead of saving or investing in the market.

[razorman]

9. That could be why they have to come up here looking for work.

[gratuitous]

11. Canadian women have found

That twenty or thirty U.S. dollars rolled tightly makes an effective and inexpensive tampon.

[Toots]

13. Rather buy Euros or even Canadian dollars

Just because America has lost it's collective mind doesn't mean the rest of the world has...

[Selatius]

3. the DJIA is still overvalued, imho.

The housing bubble still hasn't shaken itself out completely, and now we have a gas price problem, which will drag down consumer spending for the fourth quarter. I predict a lackluster holiday shopping season.

[Warpy]

5. Ha! Wait until Xmas season sales figures start to come in

beginning with Black Friday weekend. The market is not going to do well at all until we get these fools out of office.

Face it folks, the GOP is bad for business, always has been, always will be.

We have to keep them out of power for the rest of our lives. People who don't remember how bad they are will probably allow them back in, just the way retirees who were kids during Harding, Coolidge and Hoover did.

I'm afraid things will be allowed to get a lot worse before the wealthy are frightened enough to allow them to get any better.

[Acadia Blue]

8. You are so right. Its amazing that rich rePIGs think their philosophy

is so good for business, when in the end, everything always falls apart. They are so greed filled, that reality can't affect their short term acquisitions. They will go for the short term cash, like the insane tax cut during war, when in the end everything falls apart. OMG I really hate them and I wish I did not but I do. I quit being friends with some of the really extreme one. I can't stand being around them.

[sarcasmo]

15. Exactly, it don't take a rocket scientist to figure out the Street is going to tumble in January.

[tabasco]

10. But the MBA President said the economy is robust and booming!!

[Mind_your_head]

12. self-delete

[femrap]

14. My favorite bumper sticker:

End World Hunger
Eat the Rich

Remember the movie 'Soylent Green?' They should bring that back to theaters all over the country!