Bank of America posts massive $1.79 billion loss in last three months of 2008 ... slashes dividends ... accepts $138 billion emergency lifeline ...Citigroup reports total losses of $18.7 billion in 2008 — $8.29 billion in the fourth quarter ALONE ...New phase of bank crisis beginning ... soaring unemployment, plunging stocks, canceled dividends, and sinking investment income ahead ... Just when everyone thought we’d seen the worst of the carnage in the U.S. banking system ...
Despite the $350 billion in TARP funds Washington already spent to save the big banks ...
Despite Treasury Secretary Paulson’s emphatic assurance to CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo that the banks are no longer in danger just a few days ago ...
And regardless of the $138 billion ADDITIONAL lifeline he’s just been forced to throw Bank of America yesterday ...
A new, more virulent strain of the bank panic contagion is now hitting Wall Street!
Just this morning, Bank of America posted its first loss in 17 years — a whopping $1.7 billion in October, November and December — and cut the dividend it pays to stockholders.
Plus, Citigroup, which had already received $45 billion in government handouts, posted its fifth straight multi-billion dollar quarterly loss — $8.3 billion in the last three months of 2008, bringing its total losses for the year to a staggering $18.7 billion!
No wonder Obama’s advisers have freely admitted that they see an increasingly grave banking crisis beginning to unfold! No wonder they have scrambled to gain control over the second $350 billion in bailout funds! And no wonder ...
After the prior phase of this great banking crisis struck last fall, U.S. job losses surged, bringing the total number of paychecks lost by U.S. families to 2.6 million for 2008.
The stock market had a nervous breakdown — with stocks plunging as much as 1,000 points in a single trading session and the Dow crashing by nearly a third in less than 30 days.
Reeling from the carnage, many companies delayed, postponed or even cancelled dividend payments to investors — and the Fed slashed interest rates, cutting yields on other income investments.
But now, it’s looking like last year’s disaster was little more than a dress rehearsal for the new phase of the banking crisis that’s beginning now!
Weiss ResearchRESEARCH REPORTS
Its in a falling channel since October 2007 which was violated briefly in October 2008