S&P sees end to subprime mortgage writedowns
Standard & Poor's on Thursday said subprime write-downs for large financial institutions are likely past the halfway mark, but they could still hit $285 billion.
S&P's estimate of write-downs was up from a $265 billion figure it published in January, but the credit ratings agency said the end to subprime write-downs was in sight.
"The positive news is that, in our opinion, the global financial sector appears to have already disclosed the majority of valuation write-downs of subprime asset-backed securities," S&P credit analyst Scott Bugie said in a report.
More write-downs could be in store outside the subprime sector, however, S&P cautioned.
S&P's statement gave a boost to financial stocks and helped Wall Street indexes pare losses.
