Per finance.yahoo.com (under "Profile"), NBD is in the
category of REITs that makes most of its money through
financing mortgages, apparently in Canada. In the U.S., as
you may know, Many more mortgages than usual are being
foreclosed, due to rising interest rates on ARMs; home
"owners" taking on more than they can afford; a bursting
housing bubble (in many places), which means people who have
to sell are often doing so at a sizable loss. I suspect NBD
(a subsidiary of the National Bank of Canada) is being
dragged down simply like other world markets, particularly
so since it's in the finance and mortgage lending industry.
It's also likely reflecting that Canada has also had
problems with a housing bubble. Googling for {"housing
bubble" Canada} yields many hits saying a housing bubble did
occur in the last few years in Canada. Being just across the
border, it is often very reasonably argued, results in
Canada's economy reflecting certain trends of the U.S.
economy.

On November 6, NBD announced it was paying its usual
dividend.

According to Wikipedia, the National Bank of Canada is a
very old, large one. This slump might last several years; it
might not. It's hard to say, though I would say largeness
and a long record of previous soundness is indicative of
more safety than less. If you have a horizon of over five
years, I would be inclined to continue to hold this stock.
(My own banking stocks have taken quite the hit. But I have
always been braced for it in any category of stocks, and
hence I am diversified such that the hit is not too taxing
on my overall portfolio. Not that I care too much, since I
invest for the long run. I also do not expect a dividend cut
from my banks.)

Finance.yahoo.com is a decent, quick and dirty starting
point for researching a stock, though for foreign-based
stocks, info is often particularly sparse.

See also http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/101/101381.html

All this loose credit that was floating around is
reminiscent of what sparked the 1929 stock market crash. The
money turns out to actually be non-existent (either by way
of unrealistically inflated home prices or by way of loans
that cannot be paid, etc.), and of course many lose their
shirts, people panic, etc. This won't be a depression IMO
(thanks to regulatory agencies and the ousting of fools),
but it might be a rough few years for certain factions.


"louise" <louise[at]invalid.invalid> wrote
- quote -

louise <louise[at]invalid.invalid> wrote:

- quote -

According to Yahoo, it is a REIT that holds mortgage backed securities. It is
probably caught in the sub prime mess. Either it holds some sub prime
securities or investors are worried that it might.

-- Doug

Is anyone here familiar with this stock and if so, do you
know what has happened in the last few weeks that has
suddenly caused it to drop so radically? The drop is way
greater than the overall market drop.

Louise