A “credit recession” sparked by the U.S. housing market downturn and excesses in structured finance may last more than two years, and the financial sector will undergo “massive consolidation,” two leading Wall Street strategists said Wednesday.
The fallout from deteriorating subprime mortgages and the broader housing and credit crisis will eventually lead to a healthier market—but not until after a prolonged purging process, Jack Malvey, Lehman Brothers Holdings’s chief global fixed-income strategist, said in New York.
“We’re going through a tough spell with regard to credit,” Malvey said at a Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association conference.
The “subprime debacle” due to years of excess and easy credit will be followed by years of tight credit, Malvey said.