Northern Rock shares plunge 31%, Paragon Group drops 17%

BTW, I sure hope that it’s by no means connected to this in any way, but yesterday for the first time ever, I saw a “survival food kit” being sold in Costco.

It’s a 23lb white plastic bucket with 275 servings of dry meals, costing a total of $99.

Personally, it freaked me out, I NEVER seen anything like that in ANY regular consumer stores here.

The UK government, via the Prime Minister Press officer, answered questions regarding Northern Rock. Some interesting replies;

Asked what involvement the Prime Minister had had in the Northern Rock decision, the Prime Minister's Spokesman told the assembled press that the Prime Minister had been kept up to date with what had been happening by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with the Chancellor that part of the blame for the situation lay with the United States, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister had no difficulty with what theChancellor had said, but he did not think the Chancellor was attributing blame. The Chancellor was simply saying that there was uncertainty in financial markets, which originated in the United States. The PMS added that it was an uncontroversial statement of fact. Asked if the Chancellor's words reflected the Prime Minister's view, the PMS said they did indeed reflect the view of the Prime Minister.

Downing Street

Northern Rock share price today

(Value) 269.75 -168.25 -38.41%

The Pound has dropped today as well..

It's no longer $2/£1 anymore.

FTSE has taken another beating today.

The bank run on Northern Run is expected to continue tomorrow as well

[edit]

OMG!

Alliance & Leicester has dropped 32% as well

[edit on 17-9-2007 by infinite]

Bailout

Looks like the British government is seeking to quiet things down by promising a bailout over the usual UK deposit insurance program:

today.reuters.com...

LONDON (Reuters) - The British government tried to stem the tide of cash pouring out of Northern Rock (NRK.L: Quote, Profile , Research) on Monday, promising depositors they wouldn't lose a penny as the bank's share price plunged further and thousands queued to withdraw their savings.

But fears that Northern Rock is not alone in needing funding saw shares in fellow UK bank Alliance & Leicester (AL.L: Quote, Profile , Research) tumble more than 30 percent in frenetic trading, forcing it to deny it has also asked the central bank for help and continued to fund itself.

UK finance minister Alistair Darling said if necessary the government and Bank of England would guarantee all existing Northern Rock deposits during the current instability.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
Looks like the British government is seeking to quiet things down by promising a bailout over the usual UK deposit insurance program:

It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.

Hopefully the run on the bank will stop, but I don't know. Confidence has been hit REALLY hard.

To be fair, I can't see this having an effect.

Northern Rock is dead in the water.

I just read the Forbes WaMu article posted on here, makes me wonder why the British stuff was being sold as subprime!

"Last week, Washington Mutual stopped making some low-principal mortgages to poor-credit borrowers that lack full documentation."

How many times did they sell these debts before they got stuck with the poor credit borrowers that lack full documentation?

The article also states that this mess is europe too, with BNP freezing funds. Dont expect too much of a safe haven in the Euro then!

As a side issue, does anyone know if it is unusual for the US mint to have silver bullion dollars on back order? I just got a bunch today and have to wait

update:

What is being suggested, from sources, is in the worst case, the British government will nationalise Northern Rock.

Something The City does not see as a positive move. It would be a huge dramatic move, which would be serious because it means that no one in the private sector would be willing to purchase the bank. So the government is last resort.

The Chancellor also said, the government is willing to help other banks who are in a similar problem (translation)...there are more to come out.

Let's hope tomorrow will not be called Black Tuesday

In Defence of Queuers

From The Times
September 18, 2007

For how dare the stuffed suits, financial and political (and indeed journalistic), use expressions like “Don’t panic” and “Keep calm”.... I lose count of the anodyne fibs that savers were told in the early stages....

By their presence on the streets, most of it not at all panicky in demeanour, the queuers utter a resounding raspberry to the financial industry and its political masters. It is time someone did. Link

Libby Purves has spoken my mind on more than one occassion. If she were single...I'd probably be living in Suffolk County courting her

Originally posted by OBE1
Libby Purves has spoken my mind on more than one occassion. If she were single...I'd probably be living in Suffolk County courting her

Oh dear, watching the news and reading tomorrow headlines. It ain't gonna be pretty again.

Haha! Firstly, why is somebody in New Mexico reading Libby Purves? and even knows who she is for that matter, must be an expat?

I gave you a star because you are right, her article is absolutely first class!

Exactly my sentiments too. I reccomend her article to all thread goers

Originally posted by DeepCoverUK
Haha! Firstly, why is somebody in New Mexico reading Libby Purves? and even knows who she is for that matter, must be an expat?

Well, DeepCoverUK, lets just say that I take common sense where I find it. Unfortunately, sometimes I have to go a little further abroad

Not UK expat, but my father, bless his spirit, was a Scot (Stewart Clan).

*Virescit vulnere virtus*

If anyone is in the market for an unsecured loan, be sure to visit Northern Rock's homepage. The symbolism in the animated graphic couldn't be anymore ironic.

As a side issue, does anyone know if it is unusual for the US mint to have silver bullion dollars on back order? I just got a bunch today and have to wait

Naturally, back order is another way of saying “you pay now, we deliver later, after we get to use your money for a week or two…”.

Back order is also regularly used as a “hold back”.

The symbolism in the animated graphic couldn't be anymore ironic.

Oh man, that’s hilarious! Would that be dry British humor or yet another idiocy from the marketing guys?

Originally posted by iskander
I saw a “survival food kit” being sold in Costco.

It’s a 23lb white plastic bucket with 275 servings of dry meals, costing a total of $99.

Costco

$99

275 servings

Sounds like a really, really good idea.

Originally posted by OBE1
If anyone is in the market for an unsecured loan, be sure to visit Northern Rock's homepage. The symbolism in the animated graphic couldn't be anymore ironic.

I wonder if I they'll accept my application for a £28Bn loan to buy the bank?

Hey guys we had on brokerage-bank and one money center bank warn on 3q earnings due to the mortgage mess and credit crunch after markets closed today.

Bank of America Expects 3rd-Quarter Hit in Some Units Due to Volatile Credit Markets

E*Trade sees further provisions, writedowns in '08

E-trade is reporting it's going to miss earnings by 31%!

The Bank of America one is interesting. See they were widely assumed to be one of the least affected by this mess. So much in fact that they are one of the prime candidates to be doing alot of "bailing out/acquiring" in the near future. Also, they don't report 3q earnings until middle of Oct. Why warn so early? I can only think of two reasons, one hope that whatever the Fed does overshadows this negative news. The second is that BoA is one of the least affected, and is giving the Fed some data as to how bad those that are more involved in the "credit crunch" and sub-prime mess are going to fare before it makes its rate cut decision.

I remember writing somewhere before that one of the big four may be in trouble. I still don't think it's BoA. I'm more certain that one is now, and less certain that it's not BoA. Could be interesting day in US financials tommorrow.