You would have to have been hiding out in a cave over the past few days not to know that subprime fears have turned into mass panic on Wall Street. The newest company adding to the growing fears is Countrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC), the biggest mortgage lender in the U.S.

The company says it's now facing "unprecedented disruptions" that may very well impact the company's future profits. This will only give Wall Street's bears more reason to come out and drive down prices, fearing that the subprime effects are going to spread into additional areas of the market.

Shares of Countrywide are getting pounded in European trading, and you can be sure that the same will be true once New York traders get down to business this morning. As of 7:20 AM EDT the stock is down 16% in premarket trading. Yes... it's going to be an ugly one out there today for this stock (and probably the whole market, truth be told).It has been a tough month for Countrywide. Last month the company had to cut its 2007 earnings forecast, stating that we are currently in the worst period of price depreciation for homes in history, with the exception of the Great Depression.

Definitely going to be some tough times ahead for Countrywide and its investors. Luckily for the company's CEO, Angelo R. Mozilo, today's pain won't be so bad since he was able to exercise options on 92,000 shares stock on Wednesday that he then sold at $28.74. You can be sure the rest of the company's shareholders are wishing this morning that they had followed suit and dumped their holding before today's sharp selloff in the stock!

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.

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