The news article below provides a reasonable description of today's action in the financial sector. As noted, major losses occurred across the board. It was interesting that FNM and FRE still managed to close lower despite the inflationary lifeline. Nothing like a little egg on Hank's face. Also notable was the fact that the selling accelerated on LEH at the close (-14%) despite the PPT kicking in at the usual time.

The FDIC insures deposits within banks up to $100,000. The latest on the IndyMac fiasco indicates that 100,000 customers exceeded this deposit level. With IndyMac shares falling for months now, these customers had ample warning of its demise. Therefore, it is likely that this group inherited such fortunes as they definitely did not earn it based on financial savvy. What is even more peculiar is that major line-ups did not occur at IndyMac, as shown in the photograph below, until AFTER the FDIC took control over the weekend. Hopefully, the sheople soon wake-up and begin withdrawing their funds from every bank listed in the article below before the FDIC takes control of them.

The photograph below also indicates that Americans have now been exposed to banks runs and possibly panic. It may take a while, but these same sheople will eventually realize the ultimate safe haven status of precious metals. That will be lift-off!

Regards - VHF

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U.S. Stocks Fall, Led by Biggest Drop in Financials Since 2000

By Elizabeth Stanton

July 14 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell, sending financial shares to their biggest drop in eight years, on heightened concern that bank failures will spread.

Washington Mutual Inc. posted the steepest retreat ever and National City Corp. tumbled to a 24-year low after last week's collapse of IndyMac Bancorp Inc. spurred speculation that regional banks are short of capital. The companies said they've seen no unusual depositor activity. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac erased an earlier rally fueled by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plan to help rescue the largest U.S. mortgage lenders.

The declines pushed the Standard & Poor's 500 Financials Index of 89 companies down 6.1 percent, its steepest plunge since April 2000. The S&P 500 slid 11.19 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,228.3. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 45.35, or 0.4 percent, to 11,055.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 26.21, or 1.2 percent, to 2,212.87. More than two stocks dropped for each that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

``The factors that affected IndyMac are not isolated; while they're probably more severe, the pressures are evident in other financials,'' said Alan Gayle, the Richmond, Virginia-based senior investment strategist at Ridgeworth Capital Management, which oversees about $74 billion. The Treasury's plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is ``encouraging, but it does suggest that credit availability is going to remain somewhat impaired and borrowing costs will likely be higher.''

`Unmitigated Disaster'

Benchmark indexes rallied more than 1 percent each at the open as confidence in the banking system was boosted by Paulson's plan to ask Congress for authority to buy unlimited stakes in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and provide loans to them. Fannie and Freddie erased their advance after investor Jim Rogers said in a Bloomberg Television interview that the government's proposal was an ``unmitigated disaster'' and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. predicted the shares would resume falling.

The S&P 500 fell to the lowest level since June 2006, extending its drop from an October record to almost 22 percent. Record fuel prices and more than $400 billion of writedowns and credit losses globally stemming from the U.S. housing market collapse have dimmed the outlook for corporate profits.

Washington Mutual retreated $1.72, or 35 percent, to $3.23. The biggest U.S. savings and loan is seeing ``business as usual'' with no unusual depositor activity, spokesman Derek Aney said in an interview. National City, Ohio's biggest bank, tumbled 65 cents, or 15 percent, to $3.77 even after saying there was ``no unusual depositor or creditor activity.''

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in a report today predicted a rise in loan-loss provisions at Washington Mutual for balance- sheet losses that may total $26 billion this year.

`Substantial Credit Losses'

Zions Bancorporation, the Salt Lake City-based lender with operations in 10 Western U.S. states, fell 23 percent to $19.73. First Horizon National Corp., Tennessee's biggest bank, slumped 25 percent to $5.04.

Goldman Sachs analysts recommended investors sell Zions and predicted dividend cuts may be in store for Zions, SunTrust Banks Inc., Comerica Inc. and Bank of America Corp.

``Substantial credit losses are going to have to be absorbed,'' said Henry Herrmann, chief executive officer of Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. in Overland Park, Kansas, which manages about $65 billion. ``We're right on the cusp of earnings season, and more and more of this is going to be manifest.''

M&T Bank Corp., the lender whose second-largest shareholder is billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., plunged 16 percent to $58.82, its biggest drop since 2000. Second-quarter profit at the Buffalo, New York-based bank tumbled 25 percent on losses tied to mortgages.

Wachovia Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. bank, fell 15 percent to $9.84, a 17-year low, after being cut to ``neutral'' from ``buy'' at UBS AG, which predicted a dividend reduction to 1 cent and the sale of $5 billion of common shares.

IndyMac Seized

IndyMac became the second-biggest federally insured financial company to be seized by U.S. regulators after a run by depositors left the mortgage lender short on cash last week. The Pasadena, California-based company, which specialized in a type of mortgage that didn't require borrowers to document income and lost almost $900 million when borrowers fell behind on payments, was taken over after U.S. markets closed on July 11.

The successor entity, IndyMac Federal Bank, will cover 50 percent of uninsured deposits initially, its Chief Executive Officer John Bovenzi said yesterday. All accounts up to $100,000 will be fully insured under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Freddie, Fannie

Freddie Mac fell 64 cents, or 8.3 percent, to $7.11 after earlier rallying as much as 26 percent. Fannie Mae lost 52 cents, or 5.1 percent, to $9.73. The shares had surged 32 percent earlier. Paulson's proposal, which the Treasury anticipates will be incorporated into an existing congressional bill and approved this week, signals a shift toward an explicit guarantee of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt.

The Federal Reserve separately authorized the firms to borrow directly from the central bank.

Goldman analyst Daniel Zimmerman said the plan won't benefit shareholders. He lowered his share-price forecast for Fannie Mae to $7 from $18 and for Freddie Mac to $5 from $17.

Fannie Mae tumbled 45 percent last week and Freddie Mac sank 47 percent on concern the two companies, which own or guarantee about half of the $12 trillion of U.S. mortgages, may require a bailout that would wipe out shareholders.

`Sad Commentary'

``It's a fairly sad commentary that the government has to step in and take these actions,'' Liam Dalton, New York-based chief executive officer of Axiom Capital Management, which oversees $1.3 billion, said on Bloomberg Television. ``The overall market probably remains in a malaise, because the market is very respectful of the fundamental issues.''

The S&P 500 Financials Index to its lowest level since October 1998, two months after Russia's debt default sent the index down 23 percent in a month.