Daily Potpourri

- German watchdog eyes $600b in losses from banks

- BAC, Citigroup, WB, WFC may be forced to cut dividend

- GS estimates total $460b write-downs. We have seen upto $120b till now. $340b more to come. It may take more than 2 quarters for that to come off completely.

- WB sold $3b stock in January
- BAC sold $12b stock in January
- UBS may write down $11b after $17b last quarter $15.6b from Singapore investors Will ask investors for approval to raise $16b
- MER may write down $4.5b in CDO writedowns $19b last quarter Sold $11.6b in securities
- JPM may write down $2.5b

Since November Wall Street banks have raised $81b from various places.

- Japanese have started to sell-off overseas assets. It may be an indication of what is to come on Wall Street in the coming months.

- Wall Street cheered Lehman's earnings, but there are questions about its balance sheet.
- Citi analyst says firm has "ample liquidity." Isn't it ironic?

- Too much complacency for a market low. This is one of the best articles I read today. And here is a quote from it that puts 65-years of market experience in perspective -

“Historically, I have found that when people are still looking across the valley to the recovery, then we haven't had the worst of the bear market yet. It's when they stop looking over the valley and stare into the abyss that you begin to have an appropriate level of fear needed to form a real lasting market bottom.”