UBS just posted $10 billion writedown

**DiscoStu** · 10 December 2007, 10:28

Doomed!

**wendigo100** · 10 December 2007, 10:33

Does anyone else get the feeling that this time we really are sliding into something horrible?

**lilelvis2000** · 10 December 2007, 10:38

Somehow..they'll still manage to make a "profit". How much do they have in their "charitable trust"?

**AtW** · 10 December 2007, 11:58

Originally posted by wendigo100 View Post

Does anyone else get the feeling that this time we really are sliding into something horrible?

It's just a start. People have not started defaulting on their morgages to have banks take over their houses to put on market, and then big drops in house values - all this will make banks write off many more billions. Sub-prime market in the USA, apparently, is over $1 trln, imagine the write down if house prices drop 50%...

**Chantho** · 10 December 2007, 12:22

Originally posted by AtW View Post

It's just a start. People have not started defaulting on their morgages to have banks take over their houses to put on market, and then big drops in house values - all this will make banks write off many more billions. Sub-prime market in the USA, apparently, is over $1 trln, imagine the write down if house prices drop 50%...

$500 billion is about 10 x Northern Rock investment by British Government, not very much for a nation like the US.

**AtW** · 10 December 2007, 12:24

Originally posted by Chantho View Post

$500 billion is about 10 x Northern Rock investment by British Government, not very much for a nation like the US.

Do you think USA will bail out their (very likely foreign actually) banks to the tune of $500 bln?

**lilelvis2000** · 10 December 2007, 13:37

The same banks to which the government owes money to? perhaps a bit of you scratch mine and I'll scratch yours!

**Dow Jones** · 10 December 2007, 14:01

Blah-blah-blah

1 zillion trillion is b*ll*x. The truth is: WE DON'T KNOW - UBS has had more exposure in the securitized mortgages as they have different processes when assessing risk from someome like Nationwide BS. More risks = more rewards in that market. Generally, banks are playing the odds, however, unlike black-jack or roulette gamblers, the risk is pre-assessed and 99% they will only lose what they can afford to, in UBS case this is more than most. Don't panic.

**Chantho** · 10 December 2007, 14:07

Originally posted by AtW View Post

Do you think USA will bail out their (very likely foreign actually) banks to the tune of $500 bln?

I would guess that they won't, but they could if they needed and it wouldn't cost them any more than e.g. the Iraq war.

UBS just posted $10 billion writedown