There is still no sign of an end to damage to banks' balance sheets despite colossal write-offs announced already in the US and Europe.
Investment bank Lehman Brothers has said its earnings fell 11% compared with a year earlier to $886m in the three months to the end of November. The results were hurt by write-downs in bond trading, although they beat analysts' average expectations.
Meanwhile, Countrywide, the largest US home loan lender, said mortgage loan funding tumbled 40% to $23 billion in November.
The bulk of the decline came from a near-evaporation of Countrywide's sub-prime lending business and a sharp fall-off in adjustable-rate mortgages.
