www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

   

Wall Street to be uneasy over Bear Stearns deal

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-17 09:37

NEW YORK -- Wall Street begins the new week trying to come to terms with just how bad the fallout from the credit crisis is - so bad that an investment bank worth $20 billion (euro12.85 billion) weeks ago has been bought for just $236 million (euro151.66 million).

The news late Sunday that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will buy Bear Stearns for a sum that is considered paltry by Wall Street standards is likely to leave investors shaken. What might give stocks some support is the Federal Reserve's latest steps to inject cash into the banking system - steps aimed at lifting the economy but also to restore some confidence to investors. But how much that will help stocks, and for how long, is a big question on the Street.

Wall Street faces a paradox as trading opens - the more investors find out about the problems caused by billions of dollars in failed mortgages and investments, the more unknowns seem to crop up. And the near-collapse of Bear Stearns after it invested heavily in risky mortgage-backed securities, while it ends uncertainty about one company, still raises concerns about how badly wounded other financial institutions might be.

Some answers will come this week, when quarterly earnings reports are due from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Morgan Stanley. Bear Stearns was scheduled to report its results Monday; it wasn't clear if it would go ahead with that plan.

Meanwhile, the Fed has been using the various tools at its disposal - even creating some that investors have never seen before - to try to mend the ailing financial markets.

On Sunday, the central bank cut its discount rate, the interest it charges financial institutions, to 3.25 percent from 3.50 percent, effective immediately, and created another lending facility for big investment banks to secure short-term loans.

The steps are "designed to bolster market liquidity and promote orderly market functioning," the Fed said in a statement. "Liquid well-functioning markets are essential for the promotion of economic growth."

And last week, the Fed said it would pump up to $200 billion (euro128.53 billion) into the system by taking mortgage-backed securities as collateral.

The Fed is expected to take another step this week to help the economy - on Tuesday, it holds a regularly scheduled meeting on interest rates. The Fed is going to have to make a big rate move and a powerful statement to reassure the markets, and most analysts expect at least a half-point reduction in the key fed funds rate, which now stands at 3 percent. Some believe the Fed will slash rates by a full point.

The question is whether the Fed, which has had mixed success in lessening the impact of the credit crisis and calming the markets, can restore confidence to Wall Street. While investors have felt relief that the Fed is willing to act aggressively, they are more anxious than they've been in years; many didn't believe the credit crisis that began last year due to spiking mortgage defaults would reach this magnitude. The positive effect of past Fed moves have quickly evaporated.

Investors are also worried as they see increasing signs of a possible recession in the United States - companies are cutting jobs and the housing market shows few, if any, signs of coming out of its slump.

"We're sort of in uncharted waters here," said Brandon Thomas, chief investment officer for Portfolio Management Consultants, the investment arm of Envestnet. "Usually the market does a really good job discounting things that are unknown. Now it seems like the unknown is too unknown - they don't know how to discount it."

Last week was a fitful one for Wall Street. After soaring early in the week on news that the Fed was taking new steps to try to end the near paralysis in the credit markets, stocks pulled back Friday on news that Bear Stearns had to be bailed out. The major indexes finished the week little changed. The Dow rose 0.48 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 0.40 percent, and the Nasdaq composite index ended flat. This week's economic data is expected to show more weakness in the economy but some easing in inflation pressures.

Economists surveyed by Thomson Financial/IFR anticipate the Commerce Department on Tuesday to report declines in February housing starts and building permits; the Labor Department on Tuesday to report a modest increase in February producer prices; and the Philadelphia Fed on Thursday to report another contraction in the region's business activity.

Meanwhile, credit card processor Visa Inc. is expected to launch what it anticipates to be the largest initial public offering in US history.



Top World News  
Today's Top News  
Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours
主站蜘蛛池模板: 韩国一级特黄清高免费大片 | 亚洲手机看片 | 99色在线视频 | 中文字幕一区二区在线观看 | 国内成人精品亚洲日本语音 | 97免费视频在线 | 国内自拍视频在线看免费观看 | 一区二区三区在线观看视频 | a级片黄色片 | 精品在线看 | 黄色一级毛片 | 久草在线免费色站 | 日韩欧美一区二区精品久久 | 亚洲免费在线播放 | 欧美性色网 | 毛片在线看免费 | 在线看国产视频 | 亚洲高清毛片 | 国产亚洲一级精品久久 | 男人的天堂视频在线 | 国产的一级片 | 日本一区深夜影院深a | 欧美国产日本精品一区二区三区 | 一级a美女毛片 | 成年男人午夜片免费观看 | 高清午夜线观看免费 | 免费又黄又爽又猛大片午夜 | 欧美成人a级在线视频 | 欧美最大成人毛片视频网站 | 欧美日韩精品一区三区 | 欧美一级鲁丝片免费看 | 黄色三级日韩 | 国产高清视频在线播放 | 欧美激情免费观看一区 | 夜色综合 | 日本天堂免费 | 精品国产九九 | 成人夜色香网站在线观看 | 亚洲国产经典 | 玖玖精品视频在线观看 | 成人午夜在线播放 |