Lawsuits Against 17 Banks and European Woes Send Stocks Down (BAC, S)

Markets suffer heavy losses early in the day, but make small comeback during the trading day before recording still heavy losses. The sell off likely began in investors minds last Friday after markets closed when the FHFA levied lawsuits against 17 banks for fraudulent mortgage sales to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. European woes continued over the weekend and yesterday, with US trading taking the Labor Day holiday. In corporate news, Sprint (S) has joined the US government in a lawsuit to prevent AT&T (T) from buying T-Mobile. Also, Groupon is rumored to be delaying their IPO originally expected by the end of the year.

Word on the Street

• Stocks slide after labor day and 10 year treasury yield hits record low.
• Bank of America (BAC) continues to fight legal battles, maintaining confidence in face of controversy.
• Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke affirms US bank exposure to European economy is “manageable.”
• Groupon rumored to have delayed IPO expected by the end of the year, citing market volatility.
• Sprint (S) joins US government in lawsuit to prevent AT&T’s (T) purchase of T-Mobile.
• Hewlett Packard’s (HPQ) Touchpad price drop rumored to influence Amazon (AMZN) to offer introductory tablet PC for $249.
• Call of Duty 3 promises to increase outlook for Activision Blizzard (ATVI)

Interesting Tidbits

• Free yourself from limiting beliefs by removing “can’t” from your vocabulary.
• Focus on embracing a colleague’s seemingly inane view point before bring rationality into the equation.