Stocks point lower on bailout clash

Stocks point lower on bailout clash, WaMu failure
Friday September 26, 7:41 am ET
By Stevenson Jacobs, AP Business Writer
Wall Streets heads for lower open as bailout talks unravel, WaMu seized by regulators

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street headed for a sharply lower open Friday as efforts to approve a $700 billion financial bailout unraveled and Washington Mutual Inc., one of the nation's largest banks, was seized by federal regulators in the largest failure ever of a U.S. bank. Clogged credit markets remained tight as fears of a deepening economic crisis fed safe-haven buying.

ADVERTISEMENT
Investors also seemed tense after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized WaMu on Thursday, and then sold the thrift's banking assets to JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $1.9 billion. It was the largest bank by far to fail in the country's history and the latest financial firm to collapse under the weight of enormous bad bets on the mortgage market.

The grim although expected development came as government efforts to avoid an economic meltdown fell into chaos. Confusion reigned on Capitol Hill after Republican lawmakers rejected the emergency financial rescue package over the enormous price tag of the White House-backed proposal, hours after congressional leaders from both parties announced they were nearing agreement on a deal.

The rescue would remove billions of dollars of bad mortgages and other risky assets off the books of financial firms in a bid to free up lending and revive the economy. Some Republican lawmakers want an alternative plan under which the government would provide insurance to companies that agree to hold frozen assets, rather than have the U.S. purchase the assets.

With the prospects of a deal uncertain, negotiations in Washington were set to continue Friday as investors kept close watch on the proceedings. Wall Street cautiously showed its pleasure with the apparent progress Thursday, with the Dow Jones industrials closing 196 points higher.

The Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 178.00, or 1.6 percent, to 10,840.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 22.00, or 1.81 percent, to 1,191.40, and the Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 24.00, or 1.43 percent, to 1,656.

Credit markets showed the signs of increasing strain. The yield on the 3-month Treasury bill, considered the safest short-term investment, was trading at 0.81 percent, up slightly from 0.72 percent late Thursday. The lower the yield on a T-bill, the more desperation there is in the market; investors are willing to take a return of practically nothing in return for preserving their principal.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.79 percent from 3.84 percent late Thursday.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell $2.70 to $105.32 a barrel premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The dollar was trading mixed against other currencies, while gold prices fell.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average was down 0.94 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 was down 1.14 percent, Germany's DAX index was down 1.40 percent, and France's CAC-40 was down 1.02 percent.

bolsaWallstreetwall+streetmodelofotosbolsa+de+valoresinternetgananciaseurodolares

49 offshore oil platforms destroyed by Ike

Tipo de cambio 19 de setiembre
Euro vs. Dólar 1.4336
Dólar vs. Euro 0.6975


49 offshore oil platforms destroyed by Ike

Stocks mentioned in this article
CenterPoint Energy Inc (CNP) Stock Quote, Chart, News, Add to Watchlist
Entergy Corp (ETR) Stock Quote, Chart, News, Add to Watchlist
Magellan Midstream Partners LP (MMP) Stock Quote, Chart, News, Add to Watchlist
Related topics
Economic Indicators
Personnel Announcements

Associated PressAll Associated Press news

WASHINGTON (AP) - At least 49 offshore oil platforms, all with production of less than 1,000 barrels a day, were destroyed by Hurricane Ike as it raced across the Gulf of Mexico, and some may not be rebuilt, the Interior Department said Thursday.

It said in the latest hurricane damage assessment that the platforms altogether accounted for 13,000 barrels of oil and 84 million cubic feet of natural gas a day. There are more than 3,800 production platforms in the Gulf producing 1.3 million barrels of oil and 7 billion cubic feet of gas each day.

Most remain shut down.

The report by Interior's Minerals Management Service said the agency was conducting helicopter flyovers of the Gulf waters to investigate unconfirmed reports of oil spills and oil sheens, but that it was too early to issue any definitive findings.

"There are no reports of oil impacting the shoreline or affecting birds and wildlife from releases in the Gulf of Mexico federal waters," said the agency.

The agency also said five gas transmission pipeline systems sustained damage, although the extent of damage is not yet known. It earlier had reported four oil drilling rigs had been destroyed and another damaged.

Meanwhile, the Energy Department reported that as of midafternoon Thursday, 12 of 31 refineries in Texas and Louisiana, with a total production capacity of 3 million barrels a day, remained shut down as a result of the hurricane that swept through the region on Sept. 13. A number of the others are operating at reduced runs.

More than 2.3 million electricity customers in six states as far away as Pennsylvania remain without power as a result of the hurricane and its aftermath of heavy rain, said the department. Of those, 1.6 million customers are in Texas.

Other states affected are Louisiana (18,804 customers), Kentucky (167,740), Indiana (36,800), Ohio (488,900) and Pennsylvania (16,730), according to the department.

About 93 percent of the Gulf's crude oil production remains shut down as does 77.6 percent of its natural gas production, said the Minerals Management Service.

The Energy Department said 10 of 39 natural gas processing facilities also were still closed as a result of the Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Gustav which hit two weeks earlier, giving the Gulf's energy infrastructure a glancing blow.

The Gulf region accounts for 25 percent of the country's domestic oil production, or about 1.3 million barrels a day, and 15 percent of its natural gas supplies, or about 7 billion cubic feet of gas a day.

bolsaWallstreetwall+streetmodelofotosbolsa+de+valoresinternetgananciaseurodolares