U.S. Stocks Drop After Citigroup Says Consumer Credit Worsening

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg News

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell the most in five weeks after Citigroup Inc. said defaults will plague the financial industry for the rest of the year.

Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank, posted its steepest loss in two months after Chief Financial Officer Gary Crittenden said late payments on home loans may worsen in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. also retreated. Eaton Corp., the world's second-biggest maker of hydraulic equipment, led industrial shares to their steepest decline since Sept. 7 after reducing its 2007 profit forecast because of the weak U.S. housing market.

Energy companies posted the only advance among 10 industry groups in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index after the price of oil climbed to $86 a barrel in New York. The S&P 500 lost 16.22, or 1 percent, to 1,545.58 at 2:49 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 148.68, or 1.1 percent, 13,944.4. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 30.08, or 1.1 percent, to 2,775.6.

``For the Citigroups of the world, there's too much unknown that still has to work itself out,'' said Tim Hartzell, who helps manage about $2 billion as chief market strategist at Kanaly Trust Co. in Houston. ``It's not a good spot to be in right now for a consumer here in America.''



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aD0QsIaXrObA&refer=home

[xchrom]

1. more of that unknown unknowns, huh?

yeah -- excuse me -- but i think you do know.

[cliss]

3. GOOD point.

I think they know. They just ain't telling.

[aquart]

2. Citigroup/Citibank: THIEVES.

[ProudDad]

5. corporate capitalism = theft...

Note that all of this stock market shit don't mean anything to real people in the real world...

[rmgarrette64]

6. Speak for yourself

Stock market changes mean a lot to me. Between 401Ks, IRAs, and a general portfolio of stocks and bonds, we have a lot invested in the market, and prefer it doing well to the opposite. I expect Social Security to have collapsed well before my husband and I retire, so that is how we expect to live when we're older.

Of course, at the same time, we don't intend to tap into that money for quite a while, so fluctuations like we have right now are not a major worry. I know my husband is looking for more 'buying opportunities' if some fields continue to drop.

R. Garrett

[Pastiche423]

9. He speaks for the majority

Very few citizens have "throw away money" to play the stock market due to out sourced jobs, rising costs of fuel/energy, underemployment and the insane cost of healthcare, etc.

I do hope you know that you are among the few lucky ones.

[ProudDad]

10. WIth the effects of peak oil coming on

that Ponzi scheme is the LAST place I'd want any of my money.

Why should Social Security "collapse"? When I was 30, I expected SS to "collapse" (was programmed to expect it at the time, that's when that republican lie started circulating -- right after Goldwater's spanking) and now I'm damn glad it didn't since that's what I'm living on... :shrug:

All it would take is a little tinkering (and a little sharing on the part of the community) to last essentially forever... Socialism is sustainable...

On the other hand, Capitalism is a dead-end religion built on a bullshit myth of the "benevolent, invisible hand of a free market" and infinite resources to exploit.

Even if the myth is true (and it's not) it causes much more social harm than any other aspect of our society.


You like oil spills and toxic gas venting into our neighborhoods...you'll love capitalism...

You like global climate change...you'll love capitalism...

You like recessions, low wages, under-employment, outsourcing, white collar crime...you'll love capitalism...

A psychopathic system built on unlimited greed can hardly be sustainable...


But, as one human being to another, Good luck... :hi:

[dickbearton]

15. Exactly, well said. K&R.

[ProudDad]

12. Corporate Capitalism is THEFT from the working classes...

Theft from "We the People"...

I guess that's a form of "choice" to choose to support exploitation of your brothers and sisters and the theft of the commons...

[InkAddict]

18. Here's to your health....

and to your industry...

:toast:
"WE don't intend to tap into that money for quite a while"

The road to Hell is paved with those good intentions, then comes...

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it....The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that
never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm
on some idle Tuesday.

[ProudDad]

4. "`It's not a good spot to be in right now for a consumer here in America."

:wtf: does that mean???

Maybe the consuming units (used to be called Citizens) are all tapped out, eh?

[MasonJar]

7. Of course the energy corps are doing well.

[Selatius]

8. I paid off my damn cards last year and let them expire.

They sent me new cards, but I left them in the draw unactivated. They're a bunch of greedy bastards.

[ProudDad]

11. Good for you!!!

Starve the fucking beast!!!

[ozone_man]

13. "defaults will plague the financial industry for the rest of the year."

My that's optimistic. It'll be at least several years before we're at the bottom of this.

[ozymandius]

14. ``It's not a good spot to be in right now for a consumer here in America.''

Jeebus!! They're just NOW figuring this out?

[fasttense]

16. Well, nice to see that the "free market" plan of Friedman's has finally come to fruition.

The middle class is finally tapped out. Next we will see a 50% poverty increase and a 25% unemployment.

[Historic NY]

17. Everythings just fine...........

thats what the government is telling us, meanwhile the rug is getting pulled out from underneath us. The haves will have more and the have nots, well they won't have at all.