The following appeared in a Swiss newspaper:

THE SWISS PAPER SONNTAGSZEITUNG REFERENCES A "CONFIDENTIAL" STUDY BY THE HEDGE FUND BRIDGEWATER WHICH SUGGESTS THAT THE LOSSES FOR BANKS HOLDING RISKY ASSETS COULD BE FOUR TIMES GREATER THAN THE $400B PREVIOUSLY ESTIMATED
- Bridgewater is suggesting that the losses would amount to $1.6T if they were marked to market rather than valued in the form of securitization. The Bridgewater report expressed doubts that the banks and other financial institutions would be able to raise enough funds to cover losses of that magnitude.

As the credit implosion continues to unfold the amount of losses will only grow. When the credit implosion began last year some, including us, had projected that the losses would mount substantially. Even while many economists and Government officials said that it would be "contained" our analysis showed that the losses would grow and spread beyond the original sub prime ground zero.

The references by the Swiss newspaper of losses approaching $1.6 Trillion dollars may still only be half of the total impact of the credit crisis. Some projections have the total losses reaching $3 Trillion dollars. While that number sounds impossible it is NOT out of the realm of possibilities.

Earnings season is set to kick off this week and a whole new quarter of corporate earnings will be watched very carefully. We will be watching for developing and/or continuing trends in the data. Remember, a snapshot of data is one thing but it is the trend that is much more important.

The work on the new web site has continued throughout the holiday weekend and we will have more news for you very soon. We are excited about our future site.

UPDATE

There is a market rumor tonight that IndyMac Bancorp Inc. (IMB) will make an announcement on Monday. The rumor is that regulators have stepped in and are in the process of doing the paperwork for a shutdown of this institution. Only a rumor at this point. But I do respect the source of this information so I put a higher level of confidence in this information. Source: MrMortgage.