"Enjoy the war. Peace is going to be terrible."
Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, UBS, HSBC and others have stepped forward to reveal their losses. At some point, enough of the dirty linen will be on the line to let markets discern the shape of the debacle. We are not there yet. Goldman Sachs caused shock last month when it predicted that total crunch losses would reach $500bn, leading to a $2 trillion contraction in lending as bank multiples kick into reverse.
"Our counterparties are telling us that losses may reach $700bn," says Rob McAdie, head of credit at Barclays Capital.