Writedowns vs Underwriting Scorecards
Smackdown! WDCI vs LEAG . . .
Well, not quite. Today's interesting MSM pick of the day is a Bloomberg column on none of the latest Wall Street pastime's: Toting up write downs:
WDCI, the Bloomberg function introduced less than five months ago to track the writedowns, has overtaken LEAG, which ranks bond and stock underwriters, in viewers per day.
"WDCI is the new league table, or even better, the negative league table,'' said Hyde, a banking analyst at London-based European Credit Management Ltd., which oversees $27 billion for clients. "If people look at LEAG these days, it's to see who the biggest underwriter of mortgage securities was in the past. You're incriminated if you were.''
The writedowns and credit-market losses at more than 110 of the world's biggest banks and securities firms reached $514 billion last week as the credit crunch continued to wreak havoc.
Since two Bear Stearns Cos. funds invested in mortgage securities imploded in July 2007, seven bank chiefs have lost their jobs, and regulators have seized 12 U.S. banks. New York- based Bear Stearns, then the nation's fifth-largest securities firm, was forced to sell itself when faced with bankruptcy.
The tally on WDCI already surpassed the top of the range that the International Monetary Fund estimated in April banks would lose during the credit crunch. The IMF is scheduled to publish an update of its Global Financial Stability Report later this month.
As the losses build, WDCI readership has climbed. In July, an average of 4,000 users looked at the table daily, up 34 percent from the previous month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. On some days, more than 10,000 Bloomberg users monitored WDCI. By contrast, LEAG was viewed by an average of 1,800 people daily in July, 17 percent fewer than a year earlier."
Interesting stuff . . .
Source:
Counting Writedowns Replaces Deals Won as Wall Street's Ritual
Yalman Onaran
Bloomberg September 2 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=azgIxINbnuhU&
Tuesday, September 02, 2008 | 09:00 AM | Permalink
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Once all the writedowns are out of the way (probably not long now), the recovery will begin. Wait and see. I'm right.
Posted by: Michael Fowke | Sep 2, 2008 9:55:37 AM
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