Pre Market

Asia apart from Shanghai and Europe are both being hit badly.

ECONOMIC CALENDAR

EARNINGS CALLS

DNA and YUM are two big names reporting after the bell.


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Just as Wall Street began to dust itself off from last month’s subprime mess that left Bear Stearns begging for mercy, Standard & Poor's sent the whole stock market running for cover when it threatened to cut the credit rating of more than $12 billion in bonds backed by subprime mortgages.

S&P said it is considering such drastic actions because of evidence of increasing delinquency, default and loss on subprime home loans and the reduction of credit support, which “exceed historical precedent and our initial expectation." S&P shifted some of the blame away from borrowers by saying that loss rates have been partially fueled by “lower underwriting standards and misrepresentations in the mortgage market.” Forbes

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A fresh read on the housing slump's impact on home loan applications is due out Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association will report its weekly index of home-loan application volume at 7 a.m. EDT. The number of applications rose slightly last week after falling the two previous weeks. Business Week

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