According to this recent article about Countrywide, it appears that they have secured an extension to their much spoken of $11.5 billion USD line of credit. Apparently their strategies and corporate profile has carried them through this credit crunch, even though their CEO and founder Angello Mozilo continues to sell shares in the company he founded throughout these turbulent times (through a plan filed last year).
Note that this latest round of funding happened only days After they slashed staff by 20%. Either which way, this does signal a firmer and broad vote of confidence in Countrywide Financial’s ability to stay afloat. It remains to be seen how this vote of confidence in the largest mortgage lender signals for the broader credit markets, but I would certainly look at this being a positive sign.
Now, let’s see if the Fed follows conventional wisdom next week and accommodates the market . . . . It’s not a done deal yet that we’ll see a rate cut . . . . .
