Subprime lenders battered in sell-off (Bubble Going Pop?)

[NashVegas]

Mounting concerns on Wall Street that mortgage lenders might be hurt by increasing defaults and delinquencies sent investors fleeing Monday from some of the biggest names in the industry.

The meltdown among lenders that specialize in home loans to people with weak credit, known in the industry as subprime lenders, again ravaged stock prices. Financial institutions from Britain's HSBC Holdings PLC to subprime leader Countrywide Financial Corp. sank amid reports of strained portfolios as loans went bad.

Also battered were the stocks of major banks that have financed the operations of subprime lenders.

The latest mortgage company to rattle the markets was New Century Financial Corp., the nation's second-largest subprime lender. The Irvine, Calif.-based company disclosed a criminal probe into the trading of its securities, and into the lender's accounting procedures.

Already beleaguered investors were swift to react. New Century's shares lost 69 percent on Monday — wiping $620 million from its market value. Wall Street, still wobbly after last week's huge plunge, also punished the rest of an industry blamed for loosening its lending standards.

http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070306/BUSINESS01/703060324/0/BUSINESS01

[natrat]

1. those would have been ez shorts wish i hadnt blown my risk money

[murray hill farm]

2. New Century Finance is Dietech....

The one you see constantly advertised on TV...but it is also owned by GM...and has been the the money maker that has held GM together for the past few years..so, the economics of this is much bigger than housing or banking.

[BlueInPhilly]

3. New Century is NOT Ditech

Ditech is a WHOLLY-OWNED subsidiary of GMAC, which is now only partly-owned by GM (49% stake).

[Acadia Blue]

4. But everything is going great according to shrubery. For whom?