Is Countrywide running scared?
Financial markets were unhappy on Thursday, primarily due to reports that subprime contagion had spread to Europe. One can only imagine what the mood will be like on Friday, when investors digest the latest SEC filing from Countrywide, the United States’ biggest mortgage lender. Countrywide talks tough throughout — the weak will perish in the ongoing shakeout, but Countrywide will feast on the corpses of its imploding competitors and emerge stronger than ever before.