Job cuts at financial services firms surge
More than 11,000 layoffs have been announced since Friday, according to a consulting firm; housing slump, mortgage-market troubles blamed.
August 21 2007: 12:48 PM EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- A prolonged U.S. housing slump is causing a surge in the number of job losses announced by U.S. financial services companies, consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. said Tuesday.

The financial industry has announced 87,962 job cuts so far this year, 75 percent more than the total of 50,327 in all of 2006. Of this year's cuts, 41 percent related to troubles in the mortgage market, including riskier subprime mortgages, Challenger said.

In August alone, there have been 20,957 announced job cuts, including 11,040 since Friday, Challenger said.

Since Friday, Bear Stearns Cos Inc. (up $1.73 to $118.03, Charts, Fortune 500), Capital One Financial Corp. (up $2.47 to $69.19, Charts, Fortune 500), Countrywide Financial Corp. (up $1.85 to $21.66, Charts, Fortune 500) and privately-held First Magnus Financial Corp. have announced 8,640 mortgage-related cuts, Challenger said. Another 2,400 cuts were announced by SunTrust Banks Inc. (up $1.69 to $81.61, Charts, Fortune 500) as part of an existing cost-cutting program.