by Tanta on 8/03/2007 12:21:00 PM

Bloomberg wipes up the floor with WSJ today. I hope you weren't having lunch.

Credit Brothel Raided, Even Piano Player Not Safe: Mark Gilbert

By Mark Gilbert

Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) -- As the financial-liquidity police raid the credit-market brothel, even the piano player faces arrest. The malaise enveloping global markets is becoming increasingly indiscriminate in choosing its victims. . . .

At least 70 U.S. mortgage companies have shut, gone bust or sold themselves since the start of last year, according to Bloomberg data. As Dennis Gartman, economist and editor of the Suffolk, Virginia-based Gartman Letter, is fond of saying in his research reports, there's never only one cockroach.

Cockroach Counting

What investors have to decide, especially those still confident about the outlook for stocks, is how many cockroaches they are willing to endure before deciding the credit market is cracked, derivatives are doomed, and the economy imperiled.

The credit bordello has enjoyed some wild times in the past few years, luring customers into the room at the back where the exotica are displayed. As the raid ensnares more and more of the regulars, newcomers are likely to become increasingly wary of the derivatives market's wares. And when the piano player is led off to jail, the music stops.