Congress finally passed the amended US$700B bailout package

[eosdigital]

Finally! With the economy on the brink and Asia's markets to be potentially affected by the lurking "New Millennium Depression", Congress passed the amended US$700B(SGD$1 Trillion) package!
Now we dont have to worry about the Dow Jones falling even more as with the first time it was rejected. :cheergal:

WASHINGTON - With the economy on the brink and elections looming, Congress approved an unprecedented $700 billion government bailout of the battered financial industry on Friday and sent it to President Bush for his certain signature.
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The final vote, 263-171 in the House, capped two weeks of tumult in Congress and on Wall Street, punctuated by daily warnings that the country confronted the gravest economic crisis since the Great Depression if lawmakers failed to act.

Bush was poised to make a statement on the historic vote.

"We all know that we are in the midst of a financial crisis," House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio, said shortly before casting his vote for government intervention in private capital markets that was unthinkable only a month ago.

"And we know that if we do nothing, this crisis is likely to worsen and to put us into an economic slump like most of us have never seen."

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the bill was needed to "Begin to shape the financial stability of our country and the economic security of our people."

Source

 

[eosdigital]

Click here for a Real Time quote of the Dow Jones Industrial Average market

 

[Exposure]

sell everything into strength, else u will have no chance 3 weeks later.

it has been 7 years and it is end of bull cycle.

 

[terryansimon]

nice. this, along with potential rate cuts by the Federal Government on Tuesday in Australia means it's going to be cheaper for me to bring money across.

just that whatever I earn here becomes a pittance as a result of the dollar dropping. oh well. can't have your cake and eat it I suppose.

 

[GavinTing]

Woo! US budget deficit even worst now! YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!

CHEAPER LENSES FROM US!

 

[eosdigital]

Not a very good peformance after the passed bailout package i must say.

You guys reckon it can recover from the 700 pt drop when it was first rejected?

 

[sORe-EyEz]

eerh...? does this mean $$$ is going into blackhole? :sweat:

 

[Silence Sky]

Finally! With the economy on the brink and Asia's markets to be potentially affected by the lurking "New Millennium Depression", Congress passed the amended US$700B(SGD$1 Trillion) package!
Now we dont have to worry about the Dow Jones falling even more as with the first time it was rejected. :cheergal:

AIG alone will wipe out $85 billion. Do you really think $700 bil is enough?

 

[relaxxjaxx]

Still wun solve the fundamental problems. Haiz... Anyway I think George Bush already ORD mood liao....

 

[eosdigital]

The situation is looking grim now. Bailout package is not working as anticipated by critics, and world markets is already falling every now and then . STI dropped 5% just now btw.

Wall Street was set to plunge at the open Monday as a $700 billion plan approved by Congress on Friday failed to restore confidence in the global banking system.

Fears spread around the world as news of more bank troubles emerged over the weekend, and Asian and European stocks plummeted between 4 percent and 5 percent.

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling is considering a dramatic taxpayer-funded recapitalization of Britain's banks, the Financial Times reported on Monday on its Web site.

Germany offered a blanket bank deposit guarantee on Sunday in a bid to contain the spreading credit crisis as officials clinched deals to rescue Germany's Hypo Real Estate and recapitalize two other European banks.

It was followed by similar moves by Austria and Denmark, after Ireland issued the first such guarantee last week. Austria said it would raise the limit of guarantees from the current 20,000 euros -- but the new level is to be decided -- while Denmark guaranteed all deposits.

The U.S. banking sector is facing more headwinds this week as a district court judge set a court hearing for Tuesday to decide whether an exclusivity agreement in Citigroup's [C 18.35 -4.15 (-18.44%) ] bid to buy Wachovia's [WB 6.21 2.30 (+58.82%) ] banking assets prevents a competing deal by Wells Fargo [WFC 34.56 -0.60 (-1.71%) ] to go forward.

JPMorgan Chase [JPM 45.90 -3.95 (-7.92%) ] was accused of allegedly precipitating the collapse Lehman Brothers [LEHMQ 0.17 --- UNCH (0) ] by freezing Lehman assets days before it filed for bankruptcy protection, UK newspaper the Sunday Times reported.

Citing documents filed with a New York bankruptcy court late last week, the newspaper said that Lehman creditors have accused JPMorgan of freezing $17 billion in cash and securities on Friday, Sept. 12. Lehman filed for bankruptcy the following Monday.

(Check out a timeline of Lehman's collapse.)

Former Lehman CEO Richard Fuld, who oversaw the demise of the venerable investment bank, will testify at a congressional hearing this week.

With hopes that the bailout package voted by Congress would calm the markets dashed, investors are now looking to the Federal Reserve to make the next move. Traders expect the Fed to slash the current 2 percent target Fed funds rate by a half point before its next meeting, Oct. 28.

Source

 

[eosdigital]

By ALEX KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 20 minutes ago

SINGAPORE - Asian stock markets plunged Monday as investors took scant comfort from Washington's passage of a $700 billion bank bailout and focused instead on deepening financial turmoil in Europe that threatens to slow global growth.
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Traders were spooked by Germany's announcement Sunday of a new bailout package totaling 50 billion euros ($69 billion) for Hypo Real Estate, the country's second-biggest commercial property lender, part of a scramble by European governments to save failing banks.

A dismal report on the U.S. job market released Friday added to the gloom, fanning worries about U.S. consumer demand for Asian exports.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 average sank 4.2 percent to 10,475, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slid 3.4 percent to 17,089. Markets in mainland China, Australia, South Korea, India, Singapore and Thailand also fell sharply. Indonesia's key index plunged more than 5 percent.

"This credit crunch looks like it's not going away any time soon," said Alex Tang, head of research at brokerage Core Pacific-Yamaichi in Hong Kong. "Apart from a credit crunch in Europe, investors are quite concerned about the worsening outlook on the U.S. economy."

"We haven't seen any positive developments in Europe or the U.S., apart from the rescue plan," Tang said. "But even with the rescue plan, investors are focused on the slowing economy."

Investors were processing a series of developments out of Europe over the weekend. Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme said Sunday that France's BNP Paribas SA had committed to taking a 75-percent stake in troubled European bank Fortis NV. British treasury chief Alistair Darling also said he was ready to take "pretty big steps that we wouldn't take in ordinary times" to help the country weather the credit crunch.

The outlook for the U.S. economy worsened after figures released Friday showed that 159,000 jobs in the U.S. were lost last month, the fastest pace in more than five years.

Such concerns overshadowed any investor optimism over the U.S. House of Representatives' approval Friday of a massive bailout plan that will allow the U.S. government to buy distressed mortgages and securities backed by mortgages from banks and other financial institutions.

Investors questioned how long it would take for the package to unfreeze credit markets, restore bank lending and generally shore up the U.S. economy.

"The market had already figured in the package's passage," said Yukio Takahashi at Shinko Securities Co. in Tokyo. "There are strong doubts about its implementation."

Japanese financial companies and industries dependent on exports, such as steel, were especially hard hit Monday. Nippon Steel Corp. stock tumbled 9.8 percent, while Mizuho Financial Group was down 8.3 percent in morning trading.

Trading in mainland China resumed after a weeklong holiday break with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index sinking 3.5 percent to 2,213 by midday.

Banks and other financial shares saw heavy declines. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank fell 7 percent and Bank of China slipped 3.6.

Shares of Ping An Insurance Co. rose even after it said Monday it will record a $2.3 billion loss on its stake in European bank Fortis in the biggest blow yet to a Chinese institution from the global credit crisis. Ping An's shares were up 1.6 percent.

U.S. stock index futures were down more than 1 percent, suggesting Wall Street would open lower Monday morning. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 157.47, or 1.5 percent, to 10,325.38 on Friday.

In currencies, the euro slid to $1.3618 from $1.3774 late Friday. But the dollar was weaker against the yen, falling to 103.11 from 105.30 yen late Friday.

Oil prices tumbled on speculation that slower global growth will cut crude demand. Light, sweet crude for November delivery was down $1.85 to $92.03 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

_____

AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to this story.

Source

 

[zero o]

World markets, especially Europe is falling cause market players think that Europe will be the next victim of this crisis. We are seeing the beginning of European governments announcing support for their financial institutions , as well as stronger banks bailing out smaller banks or those affected. This could be the tip of the iceberg and that is why people are getting very nervy.

The situation is grim as this will cascade unto the real economy. Already banks are reluctant to lend to one another for fear of not being able to get their money back. On top of not lending to other banks, banks are reluctant to lend to corporations as well as individuals. All this will lead to a lack of consumption of goods and services, which will lead to a worsening of corporate situation. Eventually there will be cutbacks and lay offs, which will worsen consumption and demand further. And it will just cascade and cascade .....

 

[sammy888]

The situation is looking grim now. Bailout package is not working as anticipated by critics, and world markets is already falling every now and then . STI dropped 5% just now btw.

I think earlier there is already sign this will not work.

All this bailout package is going to do is setup for more finanacial institution to use this as a mean to bail themselves out. So you wonder how many more big names will be coming out of the woodwork to ask for bailout cash too. The worst part about this is all those CEOs of these companies are still going to be million dollar richer going out. The golden parachute still applys to them. What has people may not be aware of is that...the real explosion has not even happened yet. Ultimately it is the little guys who will be screwed big time. Guess where the money for the bail out will be coming back from....taxation.

 

[Paul_Yeo]

how is Singapore affected now?

 

[eosdigital]

how is Singapore affected now?

A drop of 5% in STI, and a uncertainly into the future for SG's economy. You read the front page article on Straits Times on this?

 

[melvin]

AIG alone will wipe out $85 billion. Do you really think $700 bil is enough?

Just print more lor.......:sweat:

 

[ahpan]

It will only get worse and worse.

 

[Benign]

Even if bailout is successful, how long will it take to sort it out "troubled assets"(weeks or months)? :think: Do you paid them according to the book value or next to nothing current market value?

The banks is saved, but the borrowers by the hundred of thousands?? At this rate, millions?
The level of personal debt? Those already jobless? If consumers has no confidence to spend? Banks still reluctant to lend?

FEAR is the word!

Hopefully, the price of D3X is much much cheaper :lovegrin:

 

[Silence Sky]

Just print more lor.......:sweat:

Already printed, if not where to get the $700 bil when they owe people so much money.

 

[Silence Sky]

how is Singapore affected now?

Your boss say no problem can pull through, more good years ahead.
"Gold 90.5 FM"