Before the Bell: Will markets continue heading into the abyss?

Posted Oct 16th 2008 7:50AM by Jonathan Berr
Filed under: Before the Bell, eBay (EBAY), Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of New York (BK), Merrill Lynch (MER), Nucor Corp (NUE), Contl Airlines'B' (CAL)

The stock market may continue its record-setting plunge today as the drumbeat of negative sentiment drowns out what little good news there is to be had.

Markets in Europe and Asia were sharply lower as fears of a lingering recession continued to heighten. Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso told members of Parliament that the U.S. bank bailout was "insufficient" to quell the fears of investors, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, the government of Switzerland is pumping billions into ailing UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) which gorged itself on mortgage-backed securities. Oil prices also fell to a 14 month low is Asia. U.S. stock futures were mixed.

Here is a look at other stories which may interest investors.

Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE:MER) reported its fifth straight quarterly loss including write-downs of at least $9.5 billion. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) reported a 53 percent drop in third-quarter earnings. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) reported $13.2 billion in credit losses in its earnings because of reserves for bad loans and writedowns for mortgage-related securities.
Continental Airlines Inc. (NYSE:CAL), Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU) and Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) are among the other companies reporting earnings today.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) gave a disappointing outlook yesterday after posting better-than-expected earnings. Its shares tumbled.
FDIC Chair Shelia Bair criticized the federal government for not doing enough to help homeowners facing forecloseure.