NYSE Regulation, Inc. announced today that it determined that the following NYSE listed equity securities of Washington Mutual, Inc. should be suspended immediately. All three securities were halted at the NYSE market open on September 26, 2008, in order to review the news events noted below.

The headline in New York Times is every more impressive as it reads Government Seizes WaMu and Sells Some Assets. "Washington Mutual, the giant lender that came to symbolize the excesses of the mortgage boom, was seized by federal regulators on Thursday night, in what is by far the largest bank failure in American history."

What does every 5% one-day drop in the Dow really need to give it a big boost? How about an after-hours downgrade by the rating agencies of the two financial institutions currently perched on the bankruptcy precipice. The folks at S&P were apparently the last people in America to figure out that WaMu's credit was below-average as they finally downgraded the stock to "junk".

Washington Mutual, once one of the largest residential mortgage lenders will stop originating mortgage loans through independent mortgage brokers due to the ongoing mortgage crisis. However, WAMU will still originate mortgage loans through its retail bank branches.