Dow tumbles again, down 216, decliners lead advancers 5-1 and NAZ is down 41. First thing this morning, I saw on Bloomberg TV that Dow futures were trading down 153 following the lead of Asian & then European stocks. There is growing recognition that quick fixes do not help with the mess that financial markets are trying to deal with. Meanwhile, gold is at the magic 1000 level, oil is 110 & the Treasury bond yield is down to 3.41% (flight to safety).
Investors were told by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson of a plan to provide stronger regulatory oversight of mortgage lenders. Lax standards are blamed for today's credit mess. Such changes appear to be like shutting the door after the cows are already out of the barn. A gov report showed retail sales fell in February 0.6% rather than increasing as had been expected. The number of homes facing foreclosure rose 60% in Feb. Carlyle Capital Corp. said it expects creditors to seize all of the fund's remaining assets after missing margin calls last week on its $22B portfolio of residential-mortgage-backed bonds. There are fears that more ugly news will be coming from depressed mortgage-backed securities. The markets do not look very pretty & this could keep dragging on.
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