Quick snapshot: Dow – 102, NASDAQ – 8.2, S&P – 6.49
Let’s wait until the large lady sings at the end of the
day.
If anyone can give me a “follow the money” version of what the central banks are doing with the money they are infusing into the system and how it helps. Thanks all.
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Stocks Extend Slide on Countrywide News
08/16/07 10:28 EDT
By JOE BEL BRUNO
NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks fell sharply Thursday after investors were shaken by problems at Countrywide Financial Corp. that confirmed fears of widening credit problems and after the Federal Reserve injected $17 billion of liquidity into the banking system. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 130 points.
Investors’ confidence, already diminished by months of bad news about mortgages and credit, took a further drubbing after Countrywide, the nation’s largest mortgage lender said it was forced to draw on an $11.5 billion credit line to fund operations.
And, Wall Street seemed unfazed as the New York Fed – which carries out the central bank’s market operation – announced an overnight repurchase agreement worth $12 billion. This was on top of a 14-day “repo” worth $5 billion announced before the market opened.
Central banks around the world have been supplying billions of funds to banks in the past week to make cash available for lending and keep interest rates from rising amid signs that credit was drying up. The Fed uses a repo to buy securities from dealers, who then deposit the money into commercial banks.
