Wachovia Follows WaMu, Bank of America Down, Down, Down

Wachovia is the latest bank to take massive write down charges for loan loss reverses relating to mortgage lending - adding $1.3 billion to the write down pile in what will be remembered as one of the worst weeks for banks for a long time to come.  From Reuters: Wachovia Corp posted on Friday a 10 percent decline in third-quarter profit, missing forecasts, as the fourth-largest U.S. bank suffered $1.3 billion of write-downs at its investment banking unit. The drop was the first in six years. It concluded a dismal week for large U.S. banks, which have been battered by increases in bad loans and capital market disruptions that resulted in losses on mortgages and other kinds of debt. Profit fell 57 percent at Citigroup Inc and 32 percent at Bank of America Corp. It rose 2 percent at JPMo