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Summary MF Global Holdings Ltd led by former New Jersey governor filed for bankruptcy protection Monday.
The European debt crisis has claimed its first big casualty on Wall Street, a securities firm run by former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine.The futures brokerage run by former Goldman Sachs exec and lawmaker John Corzine filed for bankruptcy protection after a series of bad bets on the crisis brought the firm to its knees.Clients started to flee and partners no longer wanted to do business with the firm, after MF Global was forced by regulators to reveal the extent of those bad bets. MF Global is the seventh-largest bankruptcy in US history based on assets.And heres one story with broader implications for the global economy. The world welcomed this baby in India marking a milestone as the global population hits seven billion. The worlds human inhabitants have doubled over the last half century putting strain on water, food and other natural resources.It was a terrible day for the markets. Remember that European debt deal everybody was all happy about last week? Well, investors scrutinized the deal over the weekend and returned in a selling mood. In addition, a stronger dollar put pressure on US manufacturing and commodity shares. But the pullback comes at the end of what has been the best month for stocks since 1991.Some investors, like Larry Bach are optimistic, but cautious.Looking at the numbers the Dow slumped 275 points, a loss of 2.25 percent, and the rest of the market wasnt far behind.In Europe, the losses were bigger on a percentage term, with stock down 3.2 percent in Germany and France, 2.7 percent down in the UK.
