US CREDIT-Economy at risk from bank lending pullback Mon Nov 5, 2007 3:27pm EST
There is a "symbiotic relationship between securitization that has led to cheap financing, that has driven consumption in the U.S., that has driven economic growth," Peters said.
But now "the securitization market for all intents and purposes is
dead. It is extremely difficult to repackage and sell product here and that is going to have implications," he added.
Merrill Lynch and bond insurers Ambac Financial Corp and MBIA Inc are among the companies suffering from large write-downs of CDOs linked to risky residential mortgages, which led all three companies to third quarter losses. And write-downs by financial companies are far from over.
Total losses from writing down mortgage-linked securities could be as high as $200 billion, with financial institutions sitting on at least $60 billion in losses that have not yet been disclosed, JPMorgan said on Monday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0554881220071105