Fear Grips Banks; World Markets Decline

123jump.com Staff
15 Jul, 2008
New York City

Unhappy investors are increasingly distrustful of the U.S. government bailout plan of Fannie and Freddie that includes bond holders and excludes stock holders. Fannie and Freddie dipped to another low with a loss of more than 20% today and dragged stocks of banks and financial companies. Citigroup, SunTrust, Wachovia and Bank of America declined to their new lows not seen at least in the last ten years. General Motors cut its dividend.

[R]11:15AM New York – U.S. stocks continue to slide as investors fear more losses at banks. Asian markets closed lower on losses in banks and exporters. European markets close down between 2% and 3%.[/R]

U.S. stocks continue their downward slide as financial companies and banks decline in the morning. Investors continue to show their displeasure with the proposed U.S. Treasury plan to rescue Fannie and Freddie. The proposed plan appears to protect bond holders but shareholders are likely to face near wipe out.

Fannie Mae ((FNM)) dropped $2.49 to $7.24 and Freddie Mac ((FRE)) lost $2.20. Fannie Mae has declined more than 90% from its peak in July of 2007 and Freddie Mac has lost nearly 95% from its peak in May of 2007.

Citigroup ((C)) fell 81 cents to $14.40, Bank of America lost $1.28 to $18.86, Wachovia Bank lost $1.29 to $8.54, SunTrust declined $1.52 to $26.77 and Wells Fargo lost 48 cents to $21.10.

Investment brokers fell as well. Merrill Lynch dropped $1.46 to $24.40, Morgan Stanley lost $1.59 to $30.19, Goldman Sachs declined $5.12 to $153.54 and Raymond James fell 85 cents to $23.

Credit card processors fell sharply after the release of retail sales. The sales rose less than expected despite $300 billion economic stimulus package from the U.S. government.

MasterCard dropped $10.94 to $246.56 and fell as much as $15 in the morning trading. Visa Inc ((V)) fell $3.84 to $68.61 and American Express fell $1.07 to $36.47.

Tech stocks fell as well on the worries that capital spending will decline. Google Inc dropped 3% to $16.01 to $505.20, EMC dropped 23 cents to $12.42, Yahoo lost $1.29 to $21.19, Intel declined 4 cents to $20.44 and Cisco fell 44 cents to $20.87. Microsoft added 68 cents to $25.84.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 124.20 or 2.34% to 5,176.20, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 100.75 or 2.43% to close at 4,041.78 and in Frankfurt DAX index lower 190.05 or 3.07% to close at 6,010.20. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 175.09 or 2.62% to close at 6,500.17.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 255.60 or 1.96% to 12,754.56, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 839.69 or 3.81% closed to 21,174.77. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 105.30 or 2.14% to close 4,815.70. The KL Composite index in Malaysia decreased 16.40 or 1.43% closed to 1,127.60.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 49.29 or 3.16% to close at 1,509.33, SET index in Thailand closed lower 23.65 or 3.30% to 693.41 and JSE Index in Indonesia decreased 44.69 or 1.98% to 2,214.85. The Sensex index in India decreased 654.32 or 4.91% to 12,676.19.