The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled by more than 487 points this morning, falling below the 10,000 mark for the first time in nearly four years.
The U.S. financial crisis is spreading into Europe, which could not reach an accord on bailout plans over the weekend, leading each of the European Union countries to respond on their own. The governments of Ireland, Greece and Germany announced they will insure retail deposits in their banks.
Locally, the BizTimes Stock Index, which tracks the stocks of publicly held companies based in southeastern Wisconsin, fell 3.27 points to an all-time low of 118.14 Friday, and local stocks continued to dip this morning.
The crisis is taking a toll on the stocks of regional bank companies. Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp.'s stock fell $1.25 to trade at $21.35 per share this morning, and was joined in the red by Green Bay-based Associated Banc-Corp. (down $1.81 to $20.07), Madison-based Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin Inc. (down 33 cents to $6.98), Cleveland-based Northern Trust Corp. (down $8.98 to $55.05) and National City Corp. (down 91 cents to $2.60).
Anchor BanCorp, the parent company for AnchorBank fsb, announced today it has filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow the company to raise capital from time to time, up to an aggregate of $200 million, through the sale of various types of securities.
The proceeds from any sales would first be used to reduce Anchor BanCorp's debt obligations under its credit agreement with U.S. Bank National Association, All or a portion of any additional proceeds would be used at the holding company level for general corporate purposes, including further debt reduction under the U.S. Bank Credit Agreement, or distributed to AnchorBank to strengthen its capital position.
"The shelf registration is part of our strategic capital raising effort to decrease our current debt balances and improve AnchorBank's current 'well-capitalized' regulatory ratios," stated Douglas Timmerman, president and chief executive officer of AnchorBank. "We expect that capital raised in this effort would be sufficient to enable Anchor BanCorp and AnchorBank to deal with current economic conditions and continue our plans for prudent growth."
Anchor BanCorp also announced that it anticipates increasing its allowance for loan losses to approximately 1.50 percent of loans as of Sept. 30, 2008, from 0.94 percent at June 30, 2008.
AnchorBank has 74 full-service offices and two loan origination-only offices, all of which are located in Wisconsin.
The stocks of companies that serve the banking industry, including Brookfield-based Fiserv Inc. (down $.208 to $41.75) and Brown Deer-based Metavante Technologies Inc. (down 93 cents to $16.86), also were hammered on Wall Street today.

Fullhouse, a Milwaukee-based interactive marketing agency with an office in Chicago, today announced that Eric Zoromski has been promoted from vice president to president.
Former president Glenn Kleiman is taking a new role as chairman of the company.
Zoromski joined Fullhouse in 1995, when the firm was known as as Channel One, to add interactive capabilities to what at the time was a small video production company.
"Eric is a valued partner and a powerful force behind our success," Kleiman said. "He has provided great leadership in defining our brand and driving growth. His appointment to president acknowledges those contributions, as well as his vision and drive to lead our agency to even greater success."
In his new role, Zoromski will continue to be responsible for overseeing the overall agency vision and client services business development. Kleiman will focus on financials and operations, as well as corporate culture.
"Our mission is pretty simple. Fullhouse is an interactive agency focused on helping world class brands sell more," Zoromski said. "The business-to-business and consumer marketing landscapes are changing rapidly. I look forward to the opportunity to guide the growth and evolution of Fullhouse."
Over his 13-year career with Fullhouse, Zoromski has guided the development of business-to-business and consumer marketing and communications programs for a wide range of companies, including MillerCoors, Kimberly-Clark, Manpower Inc., GE Healthcare and Johnson Controls Inc.
Fullhouse, which recently announced it will move from Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward to new office space in the Fifth Ward at the southeast corner of East Pittsburgh Avenue and South Barclay Street, also announced today it is expanding into the digital signage marketplace with the hirig of Jim Vaughn as digital signage manager. Vaughn is the former director of operations for Marx Creative.
"Digital Signage, and in particular content for digital signage, is a rapidly growing part of the marketing mix for major brands, and Jim is the right person to help us grow our business in that area," Zoromski said. "Our clients invest significant resources in their brands, and our specialty is finding ways to drive sales for those brands through the creation of engaging interactive experiences, like those delivered through digital signage."
In addition, Fullhouse announced today that Devon Smullen, formerly art director for DCI Marketing, has joined Fullhouse as creative director for the business communications team.
"We’re excited to have a new team member with such a wide breadth of experience and expertise in art direction and branding," says Julie Salchert, managing director of business communications for Fullhouse.

Consumers are increasingly using electronic payments, rather than cash or checks, according to a new nationwide consumer payment preferences study conducted by BAI and Hitachi Consulting.
The 2008 Study of Consumer Payment Preferences found that 63 percent of all consumer purchases are made using electronic payment methods. Electronic payments now account for the majority of payments across all three major payment venues - including bill payment. Internet payments have always been predominantly electronic. For in-store payments, the balance between paper and electronic payments shifted in 2003, leaving bill payment as the last bastion of paper-based payments.
However, that is no longer the case, as paper-based payments' share of bill payments shrank from 55 percent in 2005 to 38 percent in 2008.
"Bill payment has historically been a stronghold for checks," said Ajay Nagarkatte, managing director of Syndicated Research at BAI. "But increases in the adoption and usage of online bill payment over the past three years have significantly eroded the number of paper checks being mailed to pay bills."
Retail store purchases account for the majority of consumer payments. For in-store purchases, the migration to electronic payments continues to be driven by the increasing popularity of card-based payments, particularly debit. PIN and signature debit now account for 37 percent of consumers' in-store purchases, up from 21 percent in 1999.
Checks and now cash are giving way to card-based payments at the point of sale. Checks' share of in-store purchases has declined from 18 percent in 1999 to 8 percent in 2008, and after holding relatively steady for the past several years, cash has dropped to 29 percent.
"I expect the shift from paper to electronic payments to continue as consumers increase their use of cards and new forms of electronic payments gain traction," said Chris Allen, director of consulting services in the Financial Services Practice at Hitachi Consulting. "Although the proliferation of payment methods increases the complexity of managing payments, it also creates opportunities for financial institutions and payment service providers. There are a lot of changes taking place, and it's an exciting time to be in the industry."
The research was sponsored by Brown Deer-based Metavante Technologies Inc., First Data Corp. and its Star Network, Harland Clarke, MasterCard Worldwide and Pulse.

Milwaukee hosted playoff games for the first time in 26 years over the weekend. Although the Milwaukee Brewers were eliminated by the Philadelphia Phillies, Miller Park was rocking on Saturday and Sunday. View a photographic slideshow of the festivities in today's SBT Around Town.

Because chief executive officers create jobs, impact work life and stimulate the economy, their salaries should be safeguarded, according to Jessica Ollenberg, author of today's Milwaukee Biz Blog.