November 10, 2007 (LPAC)--Trading in the stock of Barclays Bank was halted yesterday in London, after its value had fallen over 9%, on rumors that the bank had to write off 10 billion pounds, or over $21 billion, in junk paper. (Trading later resumed.) In a supposed internal memo which was allegedly leaked to Bloomberg, Barclays CEO John Varley tried to imply that his silence on this rumor,-- which he still refuses to deny,-- proves that it is false. Barclays stock has fallen 21 percent during November.

JP Morgan Chase admitted today that it holds $40 billion in unsalable junk-bonds issued to fund leveraged buyouts, of which some significant part will have to be written off.

In a regulatory filing today, Bank of America said it has $9.8 billion in collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), mainly backed by subprime residential mortgages. The bank reported over $15 billion of CDOs on Sept 30, indicating a collapse in "value" of about 33% over six to seven weeks.

Wachovia, the second-largest US regional bank, said mortgage-related losses so far in the fourth quarter total $1.7 billion, already far more than in the third quarter. Wachovia's CDOs have lost 62% of their "value" between September and October, going from $1.8 billion to $676 million.

General Motors lost $1.6 billion in the third quarter, much more than "expected," on top of a $39 billion writedown reported yesterday.

Fannie Mae's third-quarter net loss due to falling home prices was $1.52 billion, double what it lost in its last earlier losing quarter, the third quarter of 2006.