Trouble on the cards

HSBC has rung the alarm again. The global bank said that America’s consumer tremors are proving more damaging than it had expected. Third quarter provisions at its US Consumer Finance business were, at $3.4bn, 70% more than it had bargained for three months ago. What’s more, it couldn’t rule out worse to come. HSBC said it couldn’t assess its outlook even for the remaining six weeks of 2007. Certainly, this dose of bad news is an issue for the group. Many investors questioned HSBC’s big bet on U...