Financial market losses could top 1.6 trillion dollars: report

[dramama]

Geneva - The global financial crisis could lead to losses of 1,600 billion dollars for financial institutes, according a report in the Swiss Sunday newspaper SonntagsZeitung. It quoted a confidential study by the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates as saying losses for banks holding risky assets could be four times greater than the 400 billion dollars previously estimated.

The hedge fund expressed doubts that the financial institutes would be able to drum up enough funds to cover the losses, something it said could exacerbate the crisis.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/217143,financial-market-losses-could-top-1600-billion-dollars-report.html

[jds6958]

Geneva - The global financial crisis could lead to losses of 1,600 billion dollars for financial institutes, according a report in the Swiss Sunday newspaper SonntagsZeitung. It quoted a confidential study by the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates as saying losses for banks holding risky assets could be four times greater than the 400 billion dollars previously estimated.

The hedge fund expressed doubts that the financial institutes would be able to drum up enough funds to cover the losses, something it said could exacerbate the crisis.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/217143,financial-market-losses-could-top-1600-billion-dollars-report.html

They are getting closer, I remember the days when they used to say 200 billion and then it was 400 billion.

The most realistic estimates from those more knowledgable suggests 3-4 trillion for certain by the time it is all said and done, and that was supposed to be conservative...

[Nova]

I think this figure is too low. Even though 1.6 trillion dollars is a huge amount of money, it still only represents about 1% of the derivatives held by US banks. Have their derivative holdings only lost 1% of value? No, my hunch is that the figure is higher.

When people ask me why this monetary crisis is different or worse than others, I point to derivatives. When the tech bubble burst, it only affected certain industries. Banking however impacts everything.