US Companies -- What a great fall

Worth of US Companies: * A I G -Then: $178.8 billion... Now: $5.46 billion. Down 96.95%. * Bank of America -Then: $236.5 billion... Now: $123.4 billion. Down: 47.82%. * Citigroup -Then: $236.7 billion... Now: $76.34 billion. Down 67.75%. * Merrill Lynch - Then: $63.9 billion... Now: $30.2 billion. Down 52.74%. * Fannie Mae - Then: $64.8 billion... Now: $0.45 billion. Down 99.3% * Morgan Stanley - Then: $73.1 billion... Now: $41.1billion. Down 43.78% * Wachovia - Then: $98.3 billion... Now: $19.44 billion. Down 80.22% * JP Morgan Chase - Then: $161 billion... Now: $130.2 billion. Down 19.13% * Capital One Financi al - Then: $29.9 billion... Now: $16.9 billion. Down 43.48% * Washington Mutual - Then: $31.1 billion... Now: $3.64 billion. Down 88.3% * Lehman Bros. - Then: $34.4 billion... Now: $0.80 billion. Down 97.6% * Goldman Sachs - Then: 97.7 billion... Now: $40.6 billion. Down 58.7% * Wells Fargo - Then: $124.1 billion... Now: $111.25 billion. Down 10.35% * National City - Then: $16.4 billion... Now: $2.8 billion. Down 83% * Fifth Third Bancorp - Then: $18.8 billion... Now: $7.9 billion. Down 57.6% * American Express - Then: $74.8 billion... Now: $37.5billion. Down 43.78% * Capital One Financial - Then: $29.9 billion... Now: $16.9 billion. Down 43.48% * Freddie Mac - Then: $41.5 billion... Now: $0.16 billion. Down 99% * Suntrust Banks - Then: $27 billion... Now: $16.07 billion. Down 58.7% * BB&T - Then: $23.2 billion... Now: $18.4 billion. Down 20.69% * Marshall & Ilsley - Then: $11.6 billion... Now: $4.48 billion. Down 61.3% * Keycorp - Then: $13.2 billion... Now: $5.68 billion. Down 56.97% * Legg Mason Then: $11.4 billion...Now: $4.96 billion. Down 56.49% * Comerical Then: $8.3 billion...Now: $4.74 billion. Down 42.89% * Countrywide Financi al: Then: $11.1 billion...Now: $0.00 billion. Down 100% * Bear Stearns? Then: $14.8 billion...Now: $ 0.00 billion. Down 100%. Together these 25 companies have lost investors a total of $992,690,000,000 over the last 12 months... or nearly USD1 trillion... And of course the Management congratulated themselves with bonuses of several billions at the expense of shareholders!! :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

A lot of fund managers once told me that blue chip deserve a premium for their size and infallibility.... That sounds like rubbish to me now. I hope this US meltdown can provide the catalyst to narrow the valuation gap between the blue chip stocks and the quality smaller companies. IF a lousy big cap can be worth 10x, why should a promising growth small cap be cap by this benchmark?

I\'ve had it with fund managers...the onlyfund manager I will trust right now is WB with Berkshire BRK and Tom Gayner with Markel MKL (Mini Brk). Ask yourself this. Why are you paying upfront 2% and yearly 1% management fee to fund managers when you can have the best fund manager in the world with no entry fee and no management fee. In fact WB and Tom Gayner invest your money for you but at the same time makes money via their insurance business which has less competition now that the big Kahuna AIG is really suffering. It is all about trust in the insurance business and both companies are poised to reap market share even though their rates are higher as those companies can be trusted to make god on claims. Anyway, there are as many unbelievable bargains here in the United States as they are in SGX.

I agreed. In the end, the real bargains could truly turn out to be the ones who caused all this crisis -- The US BANKS and PROPERTIES. I will be looking around for some good quality US banks to buy for my grand children. No hurry cos I think more banks will die in the coming months.

the western financial institutions are falling like dominoes as they are dependent on each other as counterparty insurers. when will ground zero day dawn?