Seven reasons the market is not going up any time soon: #4 The banks are falling apart

Posted Jan 25th 2009 12:00PM by Michael Shulman
Filed under: Bad News, Citigroup Inc. (C), Recession, Financial Crisis

The banks are a wreck and now the pieces are beginning to fly apart, with Citigroup (NYSE: C) struggling the most and beginning to dismember itself.

Meredith Whitney, the uber-analyst who has been right about everything in banking for more than two years, said there were $2.4 trillion in asset downgrades at the end of last year by the credit agencies. This will really whack the banks' critical Tier 1 capital.

And even if you forget earnings problems, the banks will continue to have no money to lend, which will strangle businesses and the economy.

Be sure to read all 7 reasons the stock market isn't going up any time soon.

Michael Shulman is a contributor to OptionsZone.com.

Tags: bank stocks, banks, BankStocks, credit cards, credit crisis, credit crunch, CreditCards, CreditCrisis, CreditCrunch, meredith whitney, MeredithWhitney, michael shulman, MichaelShulman, stock market nightmare, StockMarketNightmare