Subprime mess confession.

Citigroup,the nation's biggest bank announced a $10 billion fourth-quarter loss, primarily because of an $18 billion write-down of assets related to subprime mortgages. The size of the write-down dwarfed Citigroup's October estimate of up to $11 billion in subprime-related losses.

Merrill Lynch becomes the next bank to offer a confessional to investors. It took a $14.1 billion writedown and adjustments in the fourth quarter as bad subprime mortgage bets forced the brokerage to sell pieces of the company to foreign investors to raise capital.

Even JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is disappointing investors this earnings season. The big bank said fourth-quarter profits fell to $2.97 billion, or 86 cents a share, from the year-ago $4.53 billion, or $1.26 a share.

As the parade of write-offs continues, it's time to ask what lies ahead for Wall Street after it cleans up its current mess.
Tracking the Dow on Wednesday,16/1/08.

Another nervous trading day with
Intel (INTC:) reported a slower-than-forecast 51% profit rise, and guided to first-quarter sales below average analyst estimates. Between 10:30am to 11:00am,there seems to be a circuit-breaker and trading was halted to contain further slide which will be a catastrophe for the Dow.At the close was a small bullish hammering of the bottom.It wants to find a positive path.


Here comes Friday,the expiry of December'07 index futures and stock options contract.The reason for the Dow's poor early start of this year 2008 might be the hangover of the December contracts not fulfilled as yet.Both the candlestick pair---'the Harami' &' morning star' are clear signs of returning bull.
MARKET WATCH:-
1.) IHME - Newshttp://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=IHME.OB IntelliHome Inc., a leader in the field of intelligent home solutions, has been awarded a new Westin Homes and Properties project in Pine Mill Ranch Subdivision located in Katy, Texas.
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2.) EXER - Unusual Activityhttp://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=EXER.PK&t=5d Exact Energy has acquired a bundle of territorial rights to a new process developed by a group of Chemical and Structural Engineers and Scientists teamed together with the University of Utah’s Department of Chemical Engineering and the United States Aragon Labs to create a new improved method of cracking crude oil.
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3.) TAOL - Momentumhttp://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=TAOL.OB Tao Minerals Ltd. is a leading producer of gold and precious metals currently operating in Colombia.