First 100 days: Bearish on Geithner

The Wall Street Journal : “Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner promised forceful action to get credit flowing again in the economy, but the lack of detail in his much-anticipated speech helped drive stocks down nearly 5%, the worst selloff since President Barack Obama assumed office.” The Washington Post also says the lack of details in Geithner’s plan “dismayed lawmakers and investors, triggering a steep sell-off on Wall Street… Minutes after the plan was made public, stock markets plummeted. The Dow Jones industrial average ended the day down 4.6 percent. The Standard and Poor's 500-stock index, a broader measure, fell 4.9 percent.”   The New York Times adds that “the initial assessment of the plan from the markets, lawmakers and economists was brutally negative, in large part because they expected more details. Basic questions about how the various parts of the program would work, especially those involving the unsellable mortgages that banks are holding and preventing home ... (link)