U.S. stocks soared yesterday (Tuesday) – with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 485 points in posting its third-biggest point gain ever – as investors surged back into stocks just one day after the surprise rejection of a $700 billion bailout plan touched off a record sell-off.
In a move that will reverberate from Wall Street to Main Street, the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday (Monday) voted to reject a compromise $700 billion banking-bailout bill, an act of stunning defiance that eradicated $1.2 trillion in shareholder wealth as U.S. stocks endured their biggest one-day point loss in history.
Congressional negotiators late yesterday reached a tentative agreement on a credit-crisis compromise. It gives the Bush administration about a third of the $700 billion it has requested up front but made sure half that outlay was subject to a congressional veto, reports William Patalon III.
Rumors of a capital crisis due to overexposure to distressed U.S. securities drove shares of a Hong Kong bank sharply lower today (Wednesday), as concerned customers lined up outside retail branches to withdraw deposits.
U.S. stocks dropped for the third straight day yesterday (Wednesday) on worries that increasingly rancorous debates will squelch a proposed $700 billion bailout of the U.S. financial system even as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned Congressional leaders that the credit crisis was already damaging the American economy.
The usual Christmas rush will hold little relief for retailers and a flagging U.S. economy, as the National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts a lackluster holiday shopping season. The NRF Tuesday released its estimate for the 2008 holiday shopping season. The largest global retail trade association forecast a scant 2.2% increase to $470.7 billion in end-of-year retail purchases.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke both testified before Congress today (Tuesday) to urge lawmakers to quickly approve the proposed $700 billion government banking bailout plan.
As the ongoing effects of the capital markets credit crisis continues to be felt, US government financial leaders have urged Congress to make a speedy intervention, says Jennifer Yousfi in Morning Morning. Foreign banks capitalized on US distress by snapping up assets at bargain prices.
President George Bush yesterday (Monday) urged congressional legislators to put aside differences and work together for a speedy passage of a bill that would pledge $700 billion in taxpayer money to fight the current financial crisis – the largest bailout in U.S. history.
Nomura Holdings Inc. (ADR: NMR) yesterday (Monday) snapped up bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s (OTC: LEHMQ) Asia assets, and is close to inking a deal for its European units as well. Tokyo-based Nomura will pay $225 million for Lehman’s Asia-Pacific operations. As part of deal, Nomura will take on 3,000 former Lehman employees in the region.
