Lehman faces loss, $4 billion writeoff: report

[Dover]

Source: Reuters


(Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEH.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) may post a third-quarter loss and suffer about $4 billion in write downs, according to an analyst at J.P. Morgan Securities, who also said a sale of the company's Neuberger Berman business was unlikely.

It will be another difficult quarter for Lehman, analyst Kenneth Worthington said.

Lehman continues to have significant exposure to mortgages and asset-backed securities, totaling $61 billion, he noted.

The analyst said the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank may suffer a $4 billion write down given a decline in residential and commercial mortgage-related indices. He also said Lehman may have already been selling assets especially in its commercial mortgage portfolio.

He expects Lehman to post a third-quarter loss of $3.30 a share, versus his prior profit view of $0.35, and widened his 2008 loss view for the company to $6.77 a share from his prior loss estimate of $2.35 a share....>



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSBNG25914520080819

[JDPriestly]

1. It's a spiral, a downward spiral for most of us.

Hold on to your seat belts. Brace yourselves. The Friedmanites are going to let us poor folks fall first. There's going to be a massive pile-up at the bottom of the heap.

The bankruptcy "reform" of a few years back will mean that people are faced with no way out -- no jobs, no way to repay debt, no way to invest or move ahead, no interest earned by those who have saved all their lives. And Bernanke is a free marketeer who believes that his only purpose at the Fed is to print money. Who cares about inflation.

So, we know what is next: massive inflation on top of closing banks. What a bunch of losers the Republicans are.

All the focus is on this idiot Warren and his demented questions about how many angels are on the head of a pin. Meanwhile, the poor are getting more and more desperate. And the middle class is moving into poverty. People earning $250,000 per year and more may be in the upper 3-4% of our economy, but even their money is losing buying power as I write.

The gravity of the economic crisis is not yet evident to ordinary voters. Part of Obama's job is to spread the news without causing panic. It is very important that he choose a vice president who is not too invested in the free market scam.