TROUBLE IN ASSET LAND

Gross: Recovery impossible without asset prices bottomingBill Gross, managing director at Pacific Investment Management Co. and renowned bond trader, said markets will not recover until asset prices bottom. In a note to clients, Gross said the recovery will be dependent on government deficit spending "and imaginative monetary policies that support asset prices." The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires (subscription required) (1/30)
Learn more: Read Bill Gross' complete letter.
Report: $5 trillion in troubled assets means rescue plan must be hugeA Goldman Sachs report concludes that the value of troubled assets owned by banks could exceed $5 trillion, a number that represents about 40% of the total assets of U.S. commercial banks. Experts seem to agree that when the crisis subsides, the actual losses will be much smaller than Goldman's number. But as this article argues, the report puts into focus the fact that the rescue package "will have to be huge" to persuade banks to start lending again and give investors more confidence in the banks. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (1/29)