Are We Through the Worst of the Credit Crunch?

Recently, reported in the Australian, Reserve Bank said that the worst in the financial crisis is over. This is a conclusion of the quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy, issued yesterday.

Some markets such as including mortgage-backed securities remain closed, but the Reserve Bank believes the crisis has left Australian banks and businesses largely unscathed.

Australian businesses are in a strong position, with high levels of profits and
continued access to debt and equity funding, despite the turmoil in financial
markets.

While it's difficult to project the future of the stock market, this report gives me a bit of relieve.
Surely it's hard for the investor to endure another another downturn, after nearly a year of turmoil.

The RBA is not the only one who's commenting about the crisis by saying that the worst is over.
Here a list of other opinions, not from a beginer like me, but from some best people in the investment and share trading business:

Warren Buffett:

"The worst of the crisis in Wall Street
is over," Buffett said on Bloomberg Television (May 3rd). "In terms of people
with individual mortgages, there's a lot of pain left to come.'' Buffett was
interviewed before the Omaha, Nebraska-based company's annual meeting.

Bank of England:

The worst of the credit crisis may now be
over and markets could soon be on the road to recovery, the Bank of England
believes (1st May, 2008).

In a report likely to reassure families struggling with soaring mortgage bills and falling house prices, the Bank's deputy governor, Sir John Gieve, said London's troubled money markets could soon recover from what is widely regarded as the worst crisis since the Great Depression.

According to the Bank of England, so pessimistic has the financial community become that it has overcompensated for the trouble ahead. Sure, the economy is in for a rough ride over the next couple of years but – compared with the current negative outlook – the prospects are positively rosy. That, at least, was the message from the Bank in its Financial Stability Report

However there are some other opinions:

• Alan Greenspan, former Fed Chairman who now consults for clients including Deutsche Bank AG, said it was too soon to declare the end to the credit crisis stemming from the collapse in the subprime mortgage market (May 5th, 2008).
• Also the comment from the JP Morgan CEO – “We can only speculate how deep and how long the recession in the United States will really be and how that in turn will impact banks…But we are not done with the crisis for a long time”. (May 3, 2008) JPMorgan Chase & Co does not expect the U.S. financial crisis to end soon and will remain very cautious.

Now the conclusion?

Finger cross!