Tuesday, September 16, 2008

World stock markets were in decline

LONDON, England (CNN) -- World stock markets were in decline again Tuesday, a day after the collapse of one of the largest investment banks in the U.S. contributed to the worst day on Wall Street in seven years.
Wall Street's Lehman Brothers collapsed after a British bank and a U.S. bank both pulled out of talks.

Wall Street's Lehman Brothers collapsed after a British bank and a U.S. bank both pulled out of talks.

In the first hour of trading on Wall Street, the Dow was down 41.85, or 0.38 percent, to 10,875.66. It fell as much as 175 in the opening minutes of the session.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei index fell 4.9 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell to its lowest point in nearly two years when it dropped by 5.5 percent. A leading indicator of stock values in South Korea -- the KOSPI index -- went down 6.1 percent.

At midday in Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 was down 3.17 percent as was France's CAC-40 at 2.04 percent. Key bank stocks were again hit sharply, with HBOS down 27 percent and Royal Bank of Scotland dropping by 12 percent, The Associated Press reported.

Earlier Tuesday, European central banks pumped billions more in short-term credit into the financial system for a second day to shore up confidence in the aftermath of the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers. Video Watch more about the Lehman fallout in Europe »

The European Central Bank launched its second one-day refinancing operation in as many days, offering up a 4.25 percent bid rate. On Monday, it added $42.5 billion to money markets though banks had oversubscribed the offer by three times to $127.8 billion.

In London, the Bank of England provided another $35.6 billion in money to markets, four times the amount it pumped in on Monday.

Across Asia, regulators moved to shore up their financial systems in the wake of the collapse of Lehman.

The Bank of Japan injected 2.5 trillion yen ($24 billion) into money markets Tuesday, while China's mainland central bank cut a key interest rate Monday for the first time in more than six years. Hong Kong's monetary chief announced plans were in place to flush more cash into the banking system if necessary.

The venerable Lehman Brothers investment bank announced Monday it would file for bankruptcy despite frantic efforts to save it.

British bank Barclays had been engaged in negotiations about a possible takeover of Lehman but pulled out over the weekend.

However, Barclays revealed in a statement early Tuesday that it was interested in acquiring some Lehman assets.

Elsewhere, fellow New York-based investment bank Goldman Sachs reported a sharp decline in profits that beat Wall Street's forecasts. But revenues missed analysts' estimates and the stock fell in pre-market trading. iReport.com: How is the Wall Street crisis affecting you?
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The bank said its profits fell more than 70 percent to $845 million, or $1.81 a share, during the third quarter ending in August. Just a year ago, the company reported a profit of $2.85 billion, or $6.13 a share. Wall Street was expecting a profit of $1.71 a share.

Meanwhile, the Bank of America bought another Wall Street fixture -- Merrill Lynch -- in an all-stock deal worth $50 billion.

The financial squeeze was being felt in other sectors Tuesday, as shares in the United States' largest insurance firm -- American International Group (AIG) -- tumbled as it scrambled to raise as much as $75 billion to keep itself afloat.

As a result of the dramatic developments at Lehman Brothers, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 504 points, or 4.4 percent, on Monday. It was the biggest one-day decline for the Dow on a point basis since September 17, 2001, when the market reopened for trading after having been closed in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. On a percentage basis, it was the biggest decline since July 19, 2002.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 4.7 percent, its worst day since September 17, 2001, when it plunged 4.9 percent. The S&P 500 also closed at its lowest point since October 27, 2005.

The Nasdaq composite lost 3.6 percent, its worst single-session percentage decline since March 24, 2003. It left the tech-fueled average at its lowest point since March 17 of this year.

"It was an ugly day," said James King, president and chief investment officer at National Penn Investors Trust Company. "Lehman's failure to find a suitor and Merrill deciding to cash in their chips before a similar fate could befall them really stoked the fears of the public." Video Watch the debate over what the future impact will be »

Early trading raised concerns in Asia, said CNN's Kyung Lah, but Japanese government officials said the Japanese financial system will recover.

"It has been a very rough ride here in Japan," she said.
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A major worry, she said, is that export-driven economies, such as the ones in Japan and China, will suffer in the financial crisis because people in the United States are spending less money on the consumer goods that many Asian countries produce. Video Watch the worry in Japan, the world's second-biggest economy »

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Troubled waters for regional banks

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded two regional banks and said it could downgrade eight more in the near future after a review of their respective portfolios. In all, 37% of regional banks could see further downgrades, S&P said.

S&P lowered its credit rating on National City Corp. (NCC, Fortune 500) to A- from A and the rating of First Horizon National Corp. (FHN) to BBB from BBB+.

Lower ratings make it more expensive for banks to borrow money since loans to these institutions are considered to carry a higher risk.

National City's holdings include a large concentration of mortgage and housing-related investments that could continue to deteriorate over the next few quarters, according to S&P.

The Tennessee-based First Horizon was downgraded on problems related to a decline in the credit market, particularly at its retail banking arm. But the bank's move to scale back its operations could help it regain its footing, S&P said.

Meanwhile S&P said that Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB, Fortune 500) could face a credit rating downgrade because of its heavy investments in the sour Florida real estate market.

The decline in Florida home values also presents a large risk to the rating of Regions Financial Corp. (RF, Fortune 500) Last week it acquired $974 million in deposits from Integrity Bank, which failed and was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

S&P affirmed its current rating of A+ for Regions, but cautioned that the bank doesn't have much of a cushion against further losses.

Integrity Bank was the 10th regional bank to fail this year, and there has been growing concern for the health of the regional banking system, as well as the funding available to the FDIC to insure customers' savings.

The rating agency also warned of potential downgrades at Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc. (CRBC), Comerica Inc. (CMA), Synovus Financial Corp. (SNV), Wilmington Trust Corp. (WL), Zions Bancorp. (ZION), and Colonial BancGroup Inc. (CNB) To top of page
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