Η εμπιστοσύνη των "επενδυτών" κλονίστηκε από το βάρος της απωλειών-μαμούθ της AIG και της ταυτόχρονης ανακοίνωσης της HSBC -της μεγαλύτερης βάσει κεφαλαιοποίησης- ευρωπαϊκής τράπεζας- ότι προχωρεί σε αύξηση του μετοχικού της κεφαλαίου κατά 14,1 δισ. ευρώ (καθώς και σε κατάργηση 6.100 θέσεων εργασίας).Οι ζημίες από τα στεγαστικά δάνεια μειωμένης εξασφάλισης (subprime loans) οδήγησαν σε σημαντική μείωση τα κέρδη της HSBC το 2008. Τα κέρδη της μεγαλύτερης -βάσει κεφαλαιοποίησης- ευρωπαϊκής τράπεζας HSBC μειώθηκαν στα 5,73 δισ. δολάρια, έναντι 19,1 δισ. δολαρίων το αντίστοιχο χρονικό διάστημα του 2007.
Στην απαισιοδοξία των επενδυτών ήλθαν να προστεθούν και τα σχόλια του δισεκατομμυρίουχου επενδυτή Ουόρεν Μπάφετ, ο οποίος δήλωσε ότι «η οικονομία θα παραπαίει όλο το 2009», μεταδίδει το Reuters.
Ως προς την AIG, η αμερικανική κυβέρνηση ανακοίνωσε τη Δευτέρα τη χορήγηση επιπρόσθετης κεφαλαϊκής ενίσχυσης, ύψους 30 δισ. δολαρίων, στον ασφαλιστικό «γίγαντα», σε μία προσπάθεια να αποτραπεί μία κατάρρευση που θα απειλούσε ευθέως τη σταθερότητα του χρηματοπιστωτικού συστήματος.
Στο τελευταίο τρίμηνο του 2008, οι ζημίες της AIG ξεπέρασαν τα 60 δισ. δολάρια και συγκεκριμένα διαμορφώθηκαν στα 61,7 δις, έναντι ζημιών 5,29 δισ. δολαρίων την αντίστοιχη χρονική περίοδο του 2007. Οι ζημίες αυτές είναι οι υψηλότερες -σε τριμηνιαία βάση- στην αμερικανική επιχειρηματική ιστορία.
March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Stocks fell worldwide, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average below 7,000 for the first time since 1997, and Treasuries rose after Warren Buffett said the economy is in “shambles” and American International Group Inc. reported a $61.7 billion loss.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. retreated 5.9 percent after reporting the worst annual drop in book value since Buffett took control in 1965. HSBC Holdings Plc sank 19 percent after announcing a rights offering, driving down lenders such as Bank of America Corp. Exxon Mobil Corp. declined for a fourth day as oil tumbled 9.4 percent.
“The bear market has only begun,” Robert Prechter, the founder of Gainesville, Georgia-based Elliott Wave International Inc. who predicted the 1987 stock market crash, said on Bloomberg Radio. “I don’t see the clear weather yet.”
The Dow average decreased 214.65 points, or 3 percent, to 6,848.28 at 11:48 a.m. in New York. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 3.4 percent to 710.21. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index tumbled 4.8 percent, its steepest loss of the year. Treasuries rose as investors sought a haven, driving the yield on 10-year notes down to 2.92 percent from 3.01 percent.
The MSCI World Index of stocks in 23 developed nations fell 4.2 percent and dropped as low as 719.42, the lowest intraday level since the Iraq War began in March 2003. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index slid 4.5 percent, while Hungary’s forint dropped after European Union banks spurned aid pleas for eastern Europe.
Worst Start to Year
The deepening global recession, a third government rescue for Citigroup Inc. and dividend cuts at companies from General Electric Co. to JPMorgan Chase & Co. have dragged the MSCI World Index to three consecutive weeks of declines. The benchmark has fallen 21 percent this year, adding to last year’s 42 percent slump.
Options investors are paying twice this decade’s average to protect against losses in U.S. stocks through 2011, signaling the bear market that already wiped out $10.4 trillion of equity value may last two more years.
“There’s a real panic in the markets, with some people wanting to buy long-term insurance at any price,” said Peter Sorrentino, who helps manage $16 billion, including $130 million in options at Huntington Asset Advisors Inc. in Cincinnati. “People have lost hope.”
Contracts to protect against a drop in the S&P 500 for two years cost $15,160 on the Chicago Board Options Exchange at the end of last week, compared with $6,875 in 2007, according to price-adjusted data compiled by Bloomberg. That shows traders expect the benchmark gauge for U.S. equities to fluctuate twice as much in the next two years as it has since 2000.
‘Freefall’
Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares lost 5.9 percent to $2,412. Berkshire, which owns stakes in companies from Coca-Cola Co. to American Express Co., posted a fifth-straight profit drop, the longest streak of quarterly declines in at least 17 years, on losses from derivative bets tied to stock markets.
Buffett said the economy will be “in shambles” this year, and perhaps longer, before recovering from the reckless lending that caused the worst “freefall” he ever saw in the financial system.
HSBC and GE dragged a measure of financial stocks in the MSCI World Index to a 5.9 percent decline, the most among 10 industries.
HSBC tumbled 19 percent to 397 pence. Europe’s largest bank by market value said it plans to raise 12.5 billion pounds ($17.7 billion) in a rights offer, increasing concern that banks need more capital.
‘No Reason’
“You have almost no reason to own a bank stock,” Keith Wirtz, who helps oversee $20 billion as chief investment officer at Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati, told Bloomberg Television. “There is too much turmoil.”
PNC Financial Services Group Inc. dropped 6 percent to $25.69. The fifth-largest U.S. bank by deposits slashed its dividend 85 percent, to 10 cents from 66 cents, to save $1 billion amid “extreme market deterioration.”
AIG advanced 17 percent to 49 cents. The insurer deemed too important to fail will get as much as $30 billion in new government capital in a revised bailout after posting a record fourth-quarter loss.
GE slid 8.5 percent to $7.79, falling below $8 for the first time since 1994. The only company left in the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average from its founding in 1896 is adding to investor pessimism as credit analysts threaten to reduce its AAA rating. The company cut its quarterly dividend by 68 percent, to 10 cents from 31 cents, last week.
Commodities Slump
Raw-material producers in the MSCI World Index slid 5.6 percent, a decline that was second only to financial institutions among 10 industries. A measure of energy stocks lost 5.5 percent.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. sank 9.3 percent to $27.58 as the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 commodities fell 4 percent.
Exxon, the world’s biggest oil producer, tumbled 2.6 percent to $66.16. Oil retreated 9.4 percent to $40.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the biggest decline in a month.
The MSCI EM Eastern Europe Index slumped 3.5 percent to 88.74. The forint dropped as much as 2.6 percent, the most since Jan. 30. European Union leaders rejected requests for a region- wide aid package, bowing to German concerns that it would put too much pressure on budget deficits in western Europe as the economy slumps.
Deere & Company and Caterpillar Inc. declined more than 6.5 percent after a government report showed spending on U.S. construction projects fell in January more than twice as much as forecast.
Construction Spending
The 3.3 percent decline followed a revised 2.4 percent drop the prior month that was larger than previously reported, the Commerce Department said. Economists had forecast construction spending would decrease 1.5 percent, based on a Bloomberg survey of economists.
The market remained lower even after the Institute for Supply Management’s factory index unexpectedly climbed to 35.8 in February from 35.6 the prior month. A reading of 50 is the dividing line between growth and contraction.
“The situation is very difficult and economic data isn’t stabilizing,” said Guillaume Duchesne, Geneva-based equity strategist at Fortis Private Banking, which oversees about $117 billion. “That justifies the negative spiral in the stock market.”
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. retreated 5.9 percent after reporting the worst annual drop in book value since Buffett took control in 1965. HSBC Holdings Plc sank 19 percent after announcing a rights offering, driving down lenders such as Bank of America Corp. Exxon Mobil Corp. declined for a fourth day as oil tumbled 9.4 percent.
“The bear market has only begun,” Robert Prechter, the founder of Gainesville, Georgia-based Elliott Wave International Inc. who predicted the 1987 stock market crash, said on Bloomberg Radio. “I don’t see the clear weather yet.”
The Dow average decreased 214.65 points, or 3 percent, to 6,848.28 at 11:48 a.m. in New York. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 3.4 percent to 710.21. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index tumbled 4.8 percent, its steepest loss of the year. Treasuries rose as investors sought a haven, driving the yield on 10-year notes down to 2.92 percent from 3.01 percent.
The MSCI World Index of stocks in 23 developed nations fell 4.2 percent and dropped as low as 719.42, the lowest intraday level since the Iraq War began in March 2003. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index slid 4.5 percent, while Hungary’s forint dropped after European Union banks spurned aid pleas for eastern Europe.
Worst Start to Year
The deepening global recession, a third government rescue for Citigroup Inc. and dividend cuts at companies from General Electric Co. to JPMorgan Chase & Co. have dragged the MSCI World Index to three consecutive weeks of declines. The benchmark has fallen 21 percent this year, adding to last year’s 42 percent slump.
Options investors are paying twice this decade’s average to protect against losses in U.S. stocks through 2011, signaling the bear market that already wiped out $10.4 trillion of equity value may last two more years.
“There’s a real panic in the markets, with some people wanting to buy long-term insurance at any price,” said Peter Sorrentino, who helps manage $16 billion, including $130 million in options at Huntington Asset Advisors Inc. in Cincinnati. “People have lost hope.”
Contracts to protect against a drop in the S&P 500 for two years cost $15,160 on the Chicago Board Options Exchange at the end of last week, compared with $6,875 in 2007, according to price-adjusted data compiled by Bloomberg. That shows traders expect the benchmark gauge for U.S. equities to fluctuate twice as much in the next two years as it has since 2000.
‘Freefall’
Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares lost 5.9 percent to $2,412. Berkshire, which owns stakes in companies from Coca-Cola Co. to American Express Co., posted a fifth-straight profit drop, the longest streak of quarterly declines in at least 17 years, on losses from derivative bets tied to stock markets.
Buffett said the economy will be “in shambles” this year, and perhaps longer, before recovering from the reckless lending that caused the worst “freefall” he ever saw in the financial system.
HSBC and GE dragged a measure of financial stocks in the MSCI World Index to a 5.9 percent decline, the most among 10 industries.
HSBC tumbled 19 percent to 397 pence. Europe’s largest bank by market value said it plans to raise 12.5 billion pounds ($17.7 billion) in a rights offer, increasing concern that banks need more capital.
‘No Reason’
“You have almost no reason to own a bank stock,” Keith Wirtz, who helps oversee $20 billion as chief investment officer at Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati, told Bloomberg Television. “There is too much turmoil.”
PNC Financial Services Group Inc. dropped 6 percent to $25.69. The fifth-largest U.S. bank by deposits slashed its dividend 85 percent, to 10 cents from 66 cents, to save $1 billion amid “extreme market deterioration.”
AIG advanced 17 percent to 49 cents. The insurer deemed too important to fail will get as much as $30 billion in new government capital in a revised bailout after posting a record fourth-quarter loss.
GE slid 8.5 percent to $7.79, falling below $8 for the first time since 1994. The only company left in the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average from its founding in 1896 is adding to investor pessimism as credit analysts threaten to reduce its AAA rating. The company cut its quarterly dividend by 68 percent, to 10 cents from 31 cents, last week.
Commodities Slump
Raw-material producers in the MSCI World Index slid 5.6 percent, a decline that was second only to financial institutions among 10 industries. A measure of energy stocks lost 5.5 percent.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. sank 9.3 percent to $27.58 as the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 commodities fell 4 percent.
Exxon, the world’s biggest oil producer, tumbled 2.6 percent to $66.16. Oil retreated 9.4 percent to $40.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the biggest decline in a month.
The MSCI EM Eastern Europe Index slumped 3.5 percent to 88.74. The forint dropped as much as 2.6 percent, the most since Jan. 30. European Union leaders rejected requests for a region- wide aid package, bowing to German concerns that it would put too much pressure on budget deficits in western Europe as the economy slumps.
Deere & Company and Caterpillar Inc. declined more than 6.5 percent after a government report showed spending on U.S. construction projects fell in January more than twice as much as forecast.
Construction Spending
The 3.3 percent decline followed a revised 2.4 percent drop the prior month that was larger than previously reported, the Commerce Department said. Economists had forecast construction spending would decrease 1.5 percent, based on a Bloomberg survey of economists.
The market remained lower even after the Institute for Supply Management’s factory index unexpectedly climbed to 35.8 in February from 35.6 the prior month. A reading of 50 is the dividing line between growth and contraction.
“The situation is very difficult and economic data isn’t stabilizing,” said Guillaume Duchesne, Geneva-based equity strategist at Fortis Private Banking, which oversees about $117 billion. “That justifies the negative spiral in the stock market.”
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