Monday, November 12, 2007

Write downs bankruptcy and depression like 1930

Wall Street's money machine breaks down

The subprime mortgage crisis keeps getting worse-and claiming more victims. A Fortune special report. ... http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/11/26/101232838/index.htm?postversion=2007111212

Run for the hills — the worst is far from over. An investor's stock portfolio now, he believes, should be only about half of what it might normally be.

Another of his worries is that central banks around the globe, America's included, are debasing their currencies, which is setting the stage for a new round of higher inflation. Our bear figures the next six to 12 months will be awful for investors as the market goes down "pretty substantially."

Mr. Melcher is also gung-ho on several currencies, particularly the Swiss franc and the Japanese yen.

http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=66268&v=6535094911

Goldman Held Bigger Level 3 Share Than Citi, Merrill (Update3) Goldman Sachs Group Inc. held a bigger proportion of hard-to-value assets at the end of the third quarter than Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co., two of the firms hardest hit by subprime mortgage losses.

E*Trade Shares Fall; Analyst Says Bankruptcy Possible (Update5) E*Trade Financial Corp. lost more than half its market value after the online brokerage forecast a decline in fourth-quarter earnings and a Citigroup Inc. analyst said the company may go bankrupt.

A $45 Billion Writedown Won't Stop Wall Street Profit (Update1) Even after the record $8.4 billion writedown for bad debts at Merrill Lynch & Co., the unprecedented ouster of three chief executives within five months and the elimination of $84 billion of market value at the five largest securities firms, Wall Street still is poised to report its second-most profitable year.

Bundchen Proves Buffett-Savvy Paring Currency Risk (Update2) Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen is proving to be as savvy as professional investors hedging risks in the foreign-exchange market.

Subprime Losses May Reach $400 Billion, Analysts Say (Update5) Losses from the falling value of subprime mortgage assets may reach $300 billion to $400 billion worldwide, Deutsche Bank AG analysts said.

Blackstone's Profit Misses Estimates; Shares Decline (Update7) Blackstone Group LP, manager of the world's biggest leveraged buyout fund, reported third-quarter profit that missed analysts' estimates as real estate fees fell, sending its shares down the most since going public in June.

$100 Oil May Mean Recession as U.S. Economy Hits `Danger Zone' Rising fuel prices that businesses and consumers took in stride earlier this year may now be near the point of pushing the weakened U.S. economy into recession.