Economists: Bank Losses to Exceed $1 Trillion

Monday, March 17, 2008 3:39 p.m. EDT
Economists are now worried that the escalating losses in the U.S. financial sector may soon exceed $1 trillion -- double the level of losses from the savings and loan calamity of the mid-1980s.

Layoffs on Wall Street are surging. Broker-dealer Lehman Brothers last week disclosed yet another round of firings, accounting for 5 percent of its work force. Earlier, Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch also furloughed financiers.

The crisis has gone global. Societe Generale’s London traders who sell bank debt are reported to have few to no customers, and not much to do.

Then came this weekend’s news that JPMorgan Chase, with help from the U.S. government, was buying up the remains of tattered rival Bear Stearns. The once-formidable bank lost nearly all of its equity value in just over a month.

"The Fed-assisted fire sale of Bear Stearns over the weekend is probably not the last effort to stop a cascade of financial losses due to the collapse of the market for mortgage-backed securities,â€