Credit Markets Show Signs of Thaw

(NEWSER) - They may not be the most glamorous of villains, but so-called short-sellers are coming under growing scrutiny for their role in the market chaos, Bloomberg reports. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said today he's investigating whether short-sellers spread false rumors about firms such as AIG and Lehman Brothers so they could drive down the stock price and capitalize. The SEC, meanwhile, said it plans to temporarily ban short-selling, the Wall Street Journal notes. The UK has already taken that step. More»

The ills of the banking sector are spreading to industries previously thought resistant

(NEWSER) - The “worst financial crisis since the Great Depression” is spiraling downward and we may not have hit bottom yet, reports the Wall Street Journal in a look at how the subprime contagion has spread beyond its banking hosts, infiltrating sectors previously thought to be immune. “I think it’s going to last a lot longer than perhaps we would have anticipated,” said Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy yesterday. More»

Insurer has shot up 97% in 2010

(NEWSER) - Don’t look now, but financial crisis punchline AIG has had a monster year on the market, with its stock soaring 97% to $58.93. Of that, 42% was gained in December alone. That makes the insurer the fourth-best performer on the S&P 500 this year, and puts the government in a position to make a profit when it sells off its 92% stake, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

Investors are not sold on financial recovery, it seems

(NEWSER) - Americans love the stock market—that is, they used to love the stock market. But shaken by the financial crisis, investors withdrew $33.12 billion dollars from domestic stock market mutual funds in the first seven months of this year, finds the New York Times . Instead, they're putting their money in options deemed safer, like bonds. “This is very unusual,” one economist says. More»

Yes, even worse than the 1930s

(NEWSER) - Unless something really drastic happens in the next few days, the 2000s will be the worst decade in recorded stock market history—and that’s going back to 1820, folks. You would have been better off putting your money under your mattress than investing in stocks in 1999; since then, the market’s fallen an average 0.5% a year, according to the Wall Street Journal, worse even than 1930s' average annual decline of 0.2%. More»