Subprime affects Credit Suisse, too
Today Credit Suisse lowered the value of some of its securities by $2.85 billion. But Stephen Beard reports the size of the write-down isn't spooking investors as much as the lack of information from the bank.
The Credit Suisse logo from Zurich headquarters (Nicholas Ratzenboeck/AFP/Getty Images)
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Doug Krizner: We've got another wave of huge write-downs from the subprime crisis. Today, one of Europe's biggest banks, Credit Suisse, lowered the value of some of its securities by nearly $3 billion. Stephen Beard has more from London.
Stephen Beard: Credit Suisse is writing down $2.85 billion. But it's not the size of the write-down that's really spooked investors.
First, it's the lack of information. All the bank will say is that pricing errors by a small number of traders are to blame, and a handful of them have been suspended. Until today, Credit Suisse seemed relatively unscathed by the subprime crisis.
Chris Hughes of the Financial Times says it's not surprising bank shares were hit across the board this morning:
Chris Hughes: There's still a lot of concern out there that overall, the sector hasn't got out all its bad news yet, that it hasn't aired all its dirty linen yet. And that there are potentially a lot more losses to come.
The news overshadowed fairly good figures from the British bank Barclays. Its profits were in line with market forecasts, but its shares sank along with those of other banks in the wake of Credit Suisse's revelations.
In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.
