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who was responsible for the 2008 stock market crash

by Malika Hermann Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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The stock market crash of 2008 was a result of defaults on consolidated mortgage-backed securities. Subprime housing loans comprised most MBS. Banks offered these loans to almost everyone, even those who weren't creditworthy. When the housing market fell, many homeowners defaulted on their loans.

Full Answer

What is the worst stock market crash?

The worst stock market crash in history started in 1929 and was one of the catalysts of the Great Depression. The crash abruptly ended a period known as the Roaring Twenties, during which the economy expanded significantly and the stock market boomed.

When was the last market crash?

Though the market was ’saved’ from a disastrous month during the last two trading days in January 2022, the results were nonetheless atrocious. Market crashes don’t necessarily have to happen in a day, week, or month. After the mid-month holiday ...

When will the stock market collapse?

“Stocks are on their last legs,” he declares, predicting that the market will plummet 80%. Indeed, in the first two to three months of 2022, it will drop more than 50%, Dent, a Harvard Business School MBA, foresees. The essential problem, he says, is that “the market bubble is expanding; the economy is slowing rapidly.”

Is stock market going to collapse?

The biggest stock market crash of our lifetime will be in 2022. You’ve got to protect your money to take advantage of the sale that’s coming when stocks go down 80%, or else you won’t have money to...

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Who was to blame for the 2008 financial crisis?

The Biggest Culprit: The Lenders Most of the blame is on the mortgage originators or the lenders. That's because they were responsible for creating these problems. After all, the lenders were the ones who advanced loans to people with poor credit and a high risk of default. 7 Here's why that happened.

Who profited the most from the 2008 financial crisis?

5 Top Investors Who Profited From The Global Financial Crisis. The recommendation to “buy when there's blood in the streets” has been attributed to more than one rich businessman, but is a solid approach to creating substantial wealth. ... Warren Buffett. ... John Paulson. ... Jamie Dimon. ... Ben Bernanke. ... Carl Icahn.

How did Michael Burry make money in The Big Short?

After shutting down his website in November 2000, Burry started the hedge fund Scion Capital, funded by an inheritance and loans from his family. He named it after Terry Brooks' The Scions of Shannara (1990), one of his favorite novels. He quickly earned extraordinary profits for his investors.

Who made money during the Great Depression?

Not everyone, however, lost money during the worst economic downturn in American history. Business titans such as William Boeing and Walter Chrysler actually grew their fortunes during the Great Depression.

Why did the stock market crash in 2008?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 777.68 points in intraday trading. 1 Until the stock market crash of 2020, it was the largest point drop in history. The market crashed because Congress rejected the bank bailout bill. 2 But the stresses that led to the crash had been building ...

What was the Dow's intraday low in 2008?

The Dow dropped to an intraday low of 11,650.44 but seemed to recover. In fact, many thought the Bear Stearns rescue would avoid a bear market . By May, the Dow rose above 13,000. 1 It seemed the worst was over. In July 2008, the crisis threatened government-sponsored agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

What was the Dow Jones open at?

The Dow opened the year at 12,474.52. 1  It rose despite growing concerns about the subprime mortgage crisis. On Nov. 17, 2006, the U.S. Commerce Department warned that October's new home permits were 28% lower than the year before. 3  But economists didn't think the housing slowdown would affect the rest of the economy. In fact, they were relieved that the overheated real estate market appeared to be returning to normal.

When did the bailout bill pass?

20 The Labor Department reported that the economy had lost a whopping 159,000 jobs in the prior month. 21 On Monday, Oct. 6, 2008, the Dow dropped 800 points, closing below 10,000 for the first time since 2004. 22

When did the Dow go up in 2009?

Soon afterward, President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan instilled the confidence needed to stop the panic. On July 24, 2009, the Dow reached a higher plane. It closed at 9,093.24, beating its January high. 34 For most, the stock market crash of 2008 was over.

Did the Dow Jones crash cause a recession?

Like many other past stock market crashes, it did not lead to a recession. The correction ended in August 2018, and the Dow ended 2018 at 23,327.46. 39  In 2019, it set a record of 27,359.16 in July. 40  It then began declining due to concerns about trade wars initiated by President Donald Trump. 41 .

What was the financial crisis of 2008?

The 2008 financial crisis had its origins in the housing market, for generations the symbolic cornerstone of American prosperity. Federal policy conspicuously supported the American dream of homeownership since at least the 1930s, when the U.S. government began to back the mortgage market. It went further after WWII, offering veterans cheap home loans through the G.I. Bill. Policymakers reasoned they could avoid a return to prewar slump conditions so long as the undeveloped lands around cities could fill up with new houses, and the new houses with new appliances, and the new driveways with new cars. All this new buying meant new jobs, and security for generations to come.

What did Jim Bunning call the bailouts?

Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky called the bailouts "a calamity for our free-market system" and, essentially, "socialism"—albeit the sort of socialism that favored Wall Street, rather than workers. Earlier in the year, Paulson had identified Lehman as a potential problem and spoke privately to its chief executive, Richard Fuld.

Why did the mortgage salesmen make these deals without investigating a borrower's fitness or a property's

The salesmen could make these deals without investigating a borrower's fitness or a property's value because the lenders they represented had no intention of keeping the loans. Lenders would sell these mortgages onward; bankers would bundle them into securities and peddle them to institutional investors eager for the returns the American housing market had yielded so consistently since the 1930s. The ultimate mortgage owners would often be thousands of miles away and unaware of what they had bought. They knew only that the rating agencies said it was as safe as houses always had been, at least since the Depression.

What was the financial environment like in the early 21st century?

The financial environment of the early 21st century looked more like the United States before the Depression than after: a country on the brink of a crash. pinterest-pin-it. An employee of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. carrying a box out of the company's headquarters after it filed for bankruptcy.

When did Paulson say the government would not rescue Lehman?

By the weekend of September 13-14, 2008, Lehman was clearly finished, with perhaps tens of billions of dollars in overvalued assets on its balance sheets.

What was the only institution the bankers trusted?

After decades of trying to push the U.S. government out of banking, it turned out that in the end, the U.S. government was the only institution the bankers trusted.

What was the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000?

Congress gave them one way to do so in 2000, with the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, deregulating over-the-counter derivatives—securities that were essentially bets that two parties could privately make on the future price of an asset. Like, for example, bundled mortgages.

How much did the Dow Jones Industrial Average drop in 2008?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 54% in 17 months. In 2008 alone, the DJIA suffered five out of its top 10 largest daily point losses in history - it sank 429 points in just five minutes on Sept. 29, after the U.S. House of Representatives failed to bail out $700 billion in bank debt. Shortly thereafter, the Dow plummeted 18% (1,874 points) ...

How much did Fuld make in 2007?

Fuld, who'd earned a salary of $34 million in 2007, and $40.5 million in 2006, managed to save much of his wealth despite his bad behavior. For example, on Nov. 10, 2008, he "sold" his $13.75 million Florida mansion to his wife for $100 to protect his assets.

What was the settlement for Mozilo?

On Oct. 15, 2010, he settled with the SEC for securities fraud and insider trading. He paid $67.5 million in fines - the largest settlement by an executive connected to the stock market crash. Mozilo never admitted to any wrongdoing and was never pursued criminally.

When did Lehman Brothers file for bankruptcy?

In 2008, three of the largest American investment banks fell, and Lehman Brothers was the first to go. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 15, 2008 – the largest in U.S. history at $613 billion in debts outstanding.

Who was the CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp?

Mozilo served as cofounder and CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp. He's now widely regarded as the poster child of corporate misbehavior that led to the 2008 U.S. stock market crash.

Did Mozilo escape the SEC?

While execs like Mozilo cashed out, the company's shareholders hemorrhaged - Countrywide investors suffered a more than $25 billion decline in market capitalization. Mozilo didn't escape the crisis totally unscathed. On Oct. 15, 2010, he settled with the SEC for securities fraud and insider trading.

Who shaped the response to the 2008 financial crisis?

The response to the 2008 crisis was shaped by Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz ’s interpretation of the causes of the Great Depression. Much as we would wish to avoid financial crises in the future, we know that they are certain to occur and that the prevailing narrative on the causes of the 2008 financial crisis will shape the response to them, ...

What were the causes of the financial crisis?

After regulation, the most highly rated causes of the crisis were irrational beliefs (on house prices or risk) and corrupt incentives (fraud in mortgages and credit rating agencies). Household debt is only seventh on the list.

What were the two theories that were featured prominently in the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report?

Also at the bottom are two theories that featured prominently in the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report: the idea that monetary policy had been too loose and that the government distorted the market by subsidizing mortgages through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

What was the impact of the mortgage crisis in 2006?

On November 17, 2006, the Commerce Department warned that October's new home permits were 28% lower than the year before. At this point, the mortgage crisis could have been prevented. But the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve did not realize how grave those early warning signs were. They ignored declines in the inverted yield curve. Instead, they thought the strong money supply and low interest rates would restrict any problems faced by the real estate industry.

Why did the subprime mortgage crisis in 2006 signal the beginning of the Great Recession?

The subprime mortgage crisis in 2006 signaled the beginning of the Great Recession. Because they were confident that home mortgages were sound collateral for MBS, banks and other financial corporations invested in these in the form of derivatives.

When did Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac spiral down?

August 2008 : Fannie and Freddie Spiraled Downward. Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were fully succumbing to the subprime crisis in the summer of 2008. The failure of the government-backed companies that insured mortgages signaled that the bottom was dropping out.

Why did banks feel safe buying CDS?

But they felt safe because they also bought credit default swaps (CDS), which insured against the risk of defaults. But when the MBS market caved in, insurers did not have the capital to cover the CDS holders.

When did the Great Recession start?

The Great Recession began well before 2008. The first signs came in 2006 when housing prices began falling. By August 2007, the Federal Reserve responded to the subprime mortgage crisis by adding $24 billion in liquidity to the banking system. 1 By September 2008, Congress approved a $700 billion bank bailout, now known as ...

What was the unemployment rate in 2009?

In October 2009, unemployment peaked at 10% , the worst level since the 1982 recession. Almost 6 million jobs were lost in the 12 months prior to that. Employers were adding temporary workers as they grew too wary of the economy to add full-time employees.

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2007

2008

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008

December 2008

2009

Aftermath

The Bottom Line

  • The stock market crash of 2008 was a result of defaults on consolidated mortgage-backed securities. Subprime housing loans comprised most MBS. Banks offered these loans to almost everyone, even those who weren’t creditworthy. When the housing market fell, many homeowners defaulted on their loans. These defaults resounded all over the financial indu...
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Overview

Causes

While the causes of the bubble and subsequent crash are disputed, the precipitating factor for the Financial Crisis of 2007–2008 was the bursting of the United States housing bubble and the subsequent subprime mortgage crisis, which occurred due to a high default rate and resulting foreclosures of mortgage loans, particularly adjustable-rate mortgages. Some or all of the following factors contributed to the crisis:

Background

History

Economists who predicted the crisis

IndyMac

Notable books and movies

See also

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