Prins Bernhardplein, Amsterdam @ 10.30 AM
Looking in one direction, beyond the train tracks entering the Amstel Station is the mist shrouded Rembrandt Tower, the international HQ of Philips. Having seen their stock price tank by 50% in a year and their 2007 $4 billion profit turn into a 2008 $186 million loss, the view from the executive suites is probably figuratively always gray and misty in these days of financial and economic crisis.
Turning in the other direction from the same spot is the neon ticker on the offices of the Financieele Dagblad ('Financial Daily' - the Netherlands' version of the Wall Street Journal). Here we see the near daily bloody slaughter of the once venerable and rock solid ING (and AEGON and other financials) on the Euronext stock exchage.
"How bad will it get?" we ask ourselves every day.
