AIG News Brings World Markets Small Boost

Asian, European Stocks Rise Tentatively As U.S. Government's $85B Bailout Soothes Investors' Nerves

(CBS/AP)  Asian and European stock markets made a tentative bounce back Wednesday after the U.S. government announced a $85 billion plan to bail out troubled insurance giant American International Group Inc.

Wall Street's rise overnight also lifted sentiment after Tuesday's huge sell-off in Asia. Japan's Nikkei 225 average rose 1.6 percent to 11,788 by midday after sinking nearly 5 percent the day before to its lowest close in more than three years.

South Korea's Kospi climbed 2.7 percent and Taiwan's benchmark rose 1 percent.

But Hong Kong's blue-chip Hang Seng Index was 1.4 percent lower, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.4 percent

Most major European markets opened about 1 percentage point up Wednesday morning, including the FTSE in London and the DAX in Frankfurt, Germany.

Even shares in some major European banks, which plummeted Tuesday, made a slight rebound Wednesday morning. Buoying that rise was news broken by the British Broadcasting Corp. that banks HBOS and Lloyds TSB were talking about a merger.

BBC business editor Robert Peston said the talks were "very advanced."

Neither company would comment on what they call "market speculation."

Shares in HBOS have been under heavy pressure on the London Stock Exchange amid fears that it may become a casualty of the credit crunch. Shares fell nearly 50 percent Wednesday morning before bouncing back. Lloyds shares were down about 2.5 percent.

HBOS is the parent company of Bank of Scotland and the Halifax, and is the biggest mortgage lending in the United Kingdom.

Investors sent Asia's stocks spiraling downward Tuesday, reacting with alarm to the upheaval on Wall Street that saw investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. file for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch & Co. sell itself to Bank of America Corp.

But the Federal Reserve helped allays fears of further financial turmoil with an $85 billion emergency loan to shore up AIG, the huge U.S. insurer reeling from billions of dollars in souring mortgage debt. The Fed said Tuesday it was acting after determining that a disorderly failure of the company, whose financial dealings stretch around the world, could hurt the already delicate markets and the economy.

"It reinforces that policy makers in the U.S. will do anything necessary to prevent a wholesale collapse of the financial system, no matter how much it costs," said Daniel McCormack, a strategist for Macquarie Securities in Hong Kong.

While somewhat disappointed by the Fed's decision to leave interest rates unchanged, investors were encouraged by Wall Street's rise overnight. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 141.51 points, or 1.30 percent, to 11,059.02. The index plunged 504-points Monday, its biggest point drop since the September 2001 terror attacks.

Japanese financials, which had been battered Tuesday, were mostly higher on the Fed's move, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. rising 2.2 percent.

The dollar was steady against the yen at 105.99 yen and the euro was little changed at $1.4159.

Oil prices rose in Asian trading but remained well below $100 a barrel. Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose $2.85 to $94.00 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after dipping as low as $90.51 Tuesday, its lowest level since Feb. 8.

[jdsalinger12]

Another clear sign there is more bad news on the horizon. This should put everyone on notice that it is time to really try to protect your money and diversify. I personally use offshore bank accounts and they have helped me with asset protection and diversification. If you would like to learn more, you are welcome to visit my site.

Regards,
Frank Miller
http://www.theoffshorebankaccount.com

[aztecdakota]

Opinion from Bush, don''t get fatigued, send money to help the disaster areas. Then they approve 85 BILLON DOLLARS to help some business that is in trouble, bunch of bull!!! GALVESTON, HOUSTON, AND ALL THE SURROUNDING TEXAS AREAS SURE COULD USE THAT 85 BILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF HELP RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!! Cheney and Bush and Paladin and McCain, haven''t they destroyed enough of America in EIGHT years? Wanna give them FOUR MORE? Nutz.

[antoniof123]

Asian, European Stocks Rise Tentatively As U.S. Government''s $85B Bailout Soothes Investors'' Nerves

I am glad it worked for them because our investors must have missed something or they know something else is going to happen.

[antoniof123]

Boy, with the Government taking over all of these once-Private Companies, I am starting to regret that I never learned to speak Russian!

Posted by TheVicar1 at 10:41 AM : Sep 17, 2008

I am married to a Russian woman and not only is she a brillant doctor but beautiful and considerate and loving and kind. Not only that she is a doctor.

[ofbyfor2]

Responding to the nation''''s economic turmoil, Sen. McCain said that as President he would create millions of jobs "by putting Americans to work making negative ads."

"We no longer lead the world in manufacturing cars, steel, or computers," Sen. McCain said. "But our negative ad industry is second to none."
In other economic news, President Bush announced another massive bailout today, saying that he had completed a deal for China to buy the United States in its entirety.

"This was a difficult deal to pull off," Mr. Bush acknowledged. "The hard part was identifying the parts of the U.S. that China didn''''t already own."

Posted by Truthmatterz at 10:44 AM : Sep 17, 2008

ROTFLMMFAO--PRICELES!!!!

Good one, Truthmatterz!

[dnsallday]

%u201CWE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND THEY ARE US%u201D
McCain Attacks Washington, Republicans, Old White Men with White Hair

Most Ironic Speech to Date, Experts Say
"It''s time to take our country back," Sen. McCain told his audience in Dayton, Ohio. "It''s time to send a message to those in power - those Republicans in Washington, those old white men with their combed-over white hair."

Sen. McCain went on to attack the power elite on Wall Street, calling them "wealthy plutocrats with private jets and too many houses to keep track of."
"The time has come to say enough is enough to those rich old white men," he said. "And the same goes to their zombie-like trophy wives who plaster their makeup on like trollops."

Responding to the nation''s economic turmoil, Sen. McCain said that as President he would create millions of jobs "by putting Americans to work making negative ads."

"We no longer lead the world in manufacturing cars, steel, or computers," Sen. McCain said. "But our negative ad industry is second to none."
In other economic news, President Bush announced another massive bailout today, saying that he had completed a deal for China to buy the United States in its entirety.

"This was a difficult deal to pull off," Mr. Bush acknowledged. "The hard part was identifying the parts of the U.S. that China didn''t already own."

[thevicar1]

Boy, with the Government taking over all of these once-Private Companies, I am starting to regret that I never learned to speak Russian!

[fightfascism]

yeah, let''s not bail out our failing educational system, or our roads, or (gasp!) offer socialized medicine. Instead let''s offer socialized capitalism to big fat corporations.
Down with the republicommies!

[cheryllees-2009]

I''m tired of government bailouts of these huge organizations. Simplistic and naive as it may seem, I just do not think it is fair.
There are so many small companies which are essential to their communities which have already folded, or are in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings. Unfortunately, ours is one of them. After 30 years in business as a profitable, small general contractors, we are now forced to discuss the possibility of bankruptcy. We have used our personal savings, borrowed against our property, and more to stay afloat. It is disheartening, but a part of life. After all is said and done, we know we will be successful again.
If the government is going to continue bailing out these enormous companies because of economic fluctuations and poor business decisions, then they should also do a lot more to help out individuals, families and smaller companies which are facing foreclosure and bankruptcies.
But, the bottom line is I do not believe the federal government should be in the business of bailing out ANY companies, large or small. Why set those kinds of precedents, where will the lines be drawn? Let the cards fall where they may and lessons learned, it''s all a part of life.

[ofbyfor2]

If these companies are to be bailed out with our tax dollars, they should accept regulation and oversight.

[exhausted3]

I don''t think the government had any other choice. I think I heard this company employs 100,000 people. Can you imagine how that would impact the country if they lost their jobs? This company had been in business for over 150 years and was considered solid. If Americans lose complete faith in these powerhouse companies, then things will get worse than they are. I don''t think anyone wants that to happen. Although I think some heads should role in the AIG corporation, I do think the government had to bail them out of this situation. It''s really no different than bailing out the airlines over the years.

Stricter standards need to be put in place to avoid these situations. The banking industry has lended money out to generously. It doesn''t ever make sense to lend more money on a home than its value. A snowball effect was bound to happen. Our country needs to get back to a common sense lending philosophy.

[excoachken]

And, once again, the Cowardly Cowboy "solves" an economic problem the same way he always has, with a "charge card." This time a Chinese one, that our children and grandchildren will be paying off with INTEREST for their life times, just like the enormous, and totally avoidable, war debt.

[smurfcrusher]

Look how McCain''s economic brain, GRAMM, generated legislation deregulating the industry after getting over $1M in campaign contributions from this same industry.

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/mccains-good-buddy-gramm-architect-deregulation-wall-street

And now McCain is mocking us! Sounding as if he''s fighting for the common person.

The Internet never sleeps, John! We have your entire history at our fingertips. Your phony campaign may fool some, but it does does not fool us.

[smurfcrusher]

Look how McCain''''s economic brain, GRAMM, generated legislation deregulating the industry after getting over $1M in campaign contributions from this same industry.

http://www.nowpublic.com/wo
rld/mccains-good-buddy-gramm-architect-d
eregulation-wall-street

And now McCain is mocking us! Sounding as if he''''s fighting for the common person.

The Internet never sleeps, John! We have your entire history at our fingertips. Your phony campaign may fool some, but it does does not fool us.

[whitemale08]

The illegal Federal Reserve System only has a chartered mandate to bail out "commercial savings banks" not "investment banks" which is why they didn''t bail out Lemon Brothers.

But they did go against the charter and bailed out investment bank Bear Stearns, and now bailing out insurance companies like AIG.

You see folks, if giant monopolies are too big to fail then how come Congress failed to use the Constitution to prohibit these monopolies in the first place.

Congress must break-up these too big to fail monopolies under bankruptcy and then allow whatever broken parts to disappear and leave the smaller but healthier parts to insure vital services.

Then the government should fine and imprison past and present executives for breaking anti-trust laws.

[nbredwhty]

....and all of these things occurred on which party''s watch??? Wake up people!

[ahrats]

Since I am one of the taxpayers who now has to fund this take-over of AIG. I would like to see a few thing happen. All excutive officers, CEO, CFO, ect. of AIG should be little 8x10 cells till the 85 billon is payed back plus 30% interest on the loan just like we have to pay on our credit cards. The govenment should start reuglating the insurance industries for those companies who are also in the same fix due to bad investments. The Bush administration regulators should all be fired for not doing their jobs. So now the US government is in the insurace business why not be in the oil business as well.