Wall Street Saddled With Hefty Losses

Over the weekend, members of the Group of 20 finance ministers convened in Washington to try to prevent further economic decline. The meeting resulted in a decision not to raise barriers to trade for 2009, to delegate additional money to the International Monetary Fund and to set up regulatory bodies to detect risky investment.

"Anything they agreed to is subject to the caveat of a new administration and a new Congress," said Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist at ChannelCapitalResearch.com. He said the market is more interested in what the new Obama administration will do in the face of the weakening economy.

Ahead of Monday's session emerged additional signs that companies were prepping for hard times. Citigroup (C Quote) announced Monday it would eliminate 50,000 jobs, or 20% of its employees. And various reports indicated JPMorgan Chase (JPM Quote) would be laying off thousands of workers in 2009.

Citi shares dropped 6.6% to $8.89, and JPMorgan slipped 4.9% to $32.77.

"Typically, unemployment continues to rise even when the economy hits bottom," said Roberts. He said employers tend to overshoot when making job cuts, which can eventually make for a strong rebound once a downturn plays itself out. However, "The bounce is by no means imminent," he said. "Right now, the pain shows no signs of abating."

Elsewhere in the financials, top managers at Goldman Sachs (GS Quote) were declining to take bonuses for 2008, accepting only their salaries. Swiss bank UBS (UBS Quote) said that in 2009 it will cease bonuses for its chairman. Other executives will suffer penalties if the company performs poorly.

Shares of Goldman Sachs fell 6.4% to $62.49, while UBS added 1.7% to $11.70.