daily mkt review Oct 25 2007

Oil --Oil reached another record high, $92/barrel, inflation adjusted $101. Drivers: geoplitical issues (sanction against iran), drop in U.S inventory, and weakness in dollar Credit Market --At least 40 reports downgrading or considering downgrading billions of dollars in CDOs were issued Friday, though the agency declined to estimate the value of downgraded CDOs. --Moodys cut the ratings of CDOs backed by $33.4 bil subprimes that are downgraded early this month. The rating firms have already downgraded more than $50 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities in the past few months. Moodys expect more ratings cut in the coming week. Companies --Countrywide, which swung to its first quarterly loss in more than two decades, has spent recent months ensnared in the credit crunch. But the company said it anticipates being profitable in the fourth quarter and in 2008, and investors sent its beaten-down stock soaring by 32%.