Evening Edition

A lot of posts today but a lot of not so positive news coming out, lest you did not know from the big market drop.

Still bad headlines at Bloomberg. Really nothing to be real happy about, other than we are closer to the elusive bottom, wherever it might be.

•Asian Stocks Slump, Extending Global Rout; Toyota, Nintendo Lead Declines
•Fed Members Saw Slower Growth, Threat to Price Stability at Latest Meeting
•Japan's Exports Drop Most in Seven Years as Global Recession Intensifies
•Buffett's Berkshire Drops Most in 23 Years Amid Broader Financial Sell-Off
•S&P, Dow Drop to Five-Year Lows as Banks, Carmakers Slide; Citigroup Falls
•Amgen, Takeda Suspend Trial of Motesanib Cancer Drug After Rise in Deaths
•Barclays Sues Ritchie Hedge Funds Over Investment in Failed Petters Group

As evidenced by Berkshire losing the most in one day in 23 years, even Berkshire is not immune. If you had just one share of Berkshire class A shares today, you lost over $11,000, or 12%. I once read where Buffet said he would like to see all his holdings go down over 50% tomorrow as that would create so many opportunities for the capital he has on hand. Wonder if he still feels the same way.

Long run he will probably make out like a bandit, but I suspect he is not all smiles today. He uses his sterling reputation to get good deals. Goldman and GE not only needed capital from Berkshire, they needed Buffet's vote of confidence. Once the Buffet name starts to tarnish, so does his ability to strike the rich deals he has of late.

I noted yesterday the stresses in Berkshire's CDS rates. For more on Berkshire's problems (more credit ratings than anything else), here is a nice piece from Felix Salmon. As he notes, being so dependent on your triple A credit rating to maintain your edge on the competition is probably not wise - though many companies would like to have problems like this.

http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/market-movers/2008/11/19/will-berkshire-lose-its-triple-a

Not a pretty chart

Calculated Risk has a new chart well worth the view. It shows that we have dropped further, faster than in the oil crisis in 1973, the dot com crisis in 2000 and - ready for this - than the Great Depression. Yes, the Great Depression drop was a lot larger, but at this point in the time line, the market drop in the Great Depression was around 40% whereas we are now at 48.5% this time around. During the 1973 drop it took about a half a year longer to drop this far and during the dot com bubble pop it took over a year longer to get here. So if you are feeling this seems worse than past recessions, you are not off your rocker. Nouriel Roubini has an interview on Bloomberg where he talks about all the significant factors coming together in this recession and he predicts it will the be worst in 50 years. Go to Bloomberg and check it out. It is about 6 minutes.

http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2008/11/four-bad-bears.html

More on CMBS, though really just more detail on the woes I noted earlier.

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN1933428520081119

China, Did I Mention China - I may have said something about China. I think I did.

It seems China is having some fairly significant job loss issues and the government is taking measures to stem it, but it is hard to create jobs out of mid-air. Job loss in China makes job loss here seem small in comparison - number wise, not percentage wise.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7735205.stm

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/business/12457-chinas-workers-head-home-jobless

You Thought It Was Just TheBig US Three

China auto manufacters (did I mention China) are in dire straights - and here you didn't even know China had car manufacturers. They too are seeking a few alms for the poor. Isn't everyone? Not everyone, but the folks not seeking bailouts is an increasingly short list.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/business/12457-chinas-workers-head-home-jobless

Night all. Tomorrow is another day.