by Calculated Risk on 3/06/2008 11:17:00 AM

There are some negative comments on housing and the economy in a Standard & Poor's press release today downgrading Washington Mutual (no link yet): S&P Cuts Rtgs On WAMU; Put On Watch Neg

"These rating actions reflect our expectations for a more severe residential mortgage credit cycle than we had anticipated at the start of 2008," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Victoria Wagner. "We now believe that the severity of losses on all residential mortgages will be higher that we had thought and that the weak housing market will now be a longer cycle. This adds to the time frame to resolve foreclosed properties and the cost to carry these nonperforming assets."
emphasis added

And on recessionary pressures:

Our overall view of the recessionary pressures in the economy is also now more negative. We expect that this change in the external environment will push loan losses and loan delinquencies much higher than we previously factored into the WAMU ratings ...