[link|http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/20/news/companies/freddiemac/index.htm?cnn=yes|CNN]

Mortgage financing firm Freddie Mac rocked the credit markets further Tuesday as it reported a large loss along with an $8.1 billion drop in the value of its assets, as it set aside $1.2 billion to cover credit losses.

The firm reported a net loss of $2 billion, or $3.29 a share, in the period, wider than the loss of $715 million, or $1.17 a share, a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker Thomson First Call had forecast that Freddie would trim losses to 22 cents a share in the period, although how the reported net loss compares to those forecasts could not immediately be determined.

Freddie Mac is supposed to buy only the best quality mortgages and loans, so it was expected to avoid the worst of the credit market problems. But instead it has taken a large hit. Should make for a bad day in the markets, the DOW is down more then 200 already.

It is almost getting funny to watch. We have all these market guys and investors who have been raised on nothing but rising markets and heavily trained to move into the markets on down turns to pick up bargains. But of late it has been a steady pattern of bad news, every time the bargain hunters move in and buy, there is more bad news and the market goes down again.

Eventually however, these guys are going to run out of money to move in with. And then things could get ugly.

Jay