Credit Suisse Group declared a $2.1 billion net loss for the first quarter as the global effects of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis continued to spread. This is a first in the history of Switzerland’s second largest bank.

The company also disclosed net writedowns of $5.3 billion for big buyout loans and mortgage securities.

Although other operations of the bank did well, “[o]ur first-quarter results are clearly unsatisfactory,” said Chief Executive Officer Brady Dougan.

Credit Suisse is the first of the major European investment banks to report the quarter, but others have warned investors to brace for more write-downs.

The bank posted a net profit of $2.7 billion in the first quarter of 2007; however, Credit Suisse shares slid 43% in the last 12 months, despite efforts to reduce exposure to risk in the market.

“Other than the areas affected directly by the credit crisis, most of our businesses performed well, with revenues near, or in some cases above, those in the first quarter of 2007,” CEO Dougan said.

He said the bank “remains well positioned in an extremely challenging environment.”

Credit Suisse’s capital position is strong, Dougan said, adding that the bank would continue to manage its liquidity conservatively.

“I am confident that we will continue to serve as a safe haven for clients in uncertain and volatile markets, and to seize the opportunities that arise in times of market dislocation to create long-term value,” Dougan said.

Credit Suisse took the bulk of its writedowns - $2.64 billion - for collateralized debt obligations.

But it also marked down $1.67 billion for buyout loans granted but failed to sell to investors and $937 million for mortgage securities.

Credit Suisse trimmed its exposures to the troubled areas during the quarter. Leveraged loans outstanding fell to $20.6 billion. Subprime CDOs shrank to $695 million from $1.6 billion.

In 2006, Motorola’s Razr phones were the hottest thing around. It was the ‘must have’ phone, and sales had skyrocketed. All that has changed now. The Motorola handset division has posted a loss of $1.2 Billion due to low sales, and Motorola is struggling to cut more costs.

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In a desperate bid to save it’s handset unit, Motorola has closed a plant in Singapore, and has now laid off 10,000 workers. This will help, but not for long. The best that Motorola can do right now, is to deliver a new phone that will help it to peak it’s sales during Christmas.

Today is when Motorola is going to post the results of this quarter, along with Microsoft. Analysts expect a huge slowdown in it’s revenue, as well as it’s earnings per share.

While some people are assured that since Motorola is a big company, it will recover sooner or later. After all, the worst that can happen is that it will lose a few cents per share. But others feel that Motorola’s problems are more deep seated than that. It’s generally not a good sign when a company shores itself up solely by cutting costs without any improvement in it’s core business. But this is exactly what Motorola is doing. Unless it can improve it’s core sales, things are not going to improve at all in the long run.

The fact is well known that the well known search Engine Yahoo!, which has been in a Multi Year slide, has been the subject of an unsolicited takeover bid.

Till now, Yahoo! has rejected Microsoft’s bid which is valued at about $43 Billion. The deadline to accept this bid is Saturday, the 26th of April.

However, Yahoo! is hoping that it’s impressive first quareter sales and profits will cause Microsoft to increase it’s bid amount. With a net income of$ 542 million, which is four times what it was a year ago, Yahoo! has gained 37 cents per share.

However, analysts comment that the majority of this increase, has come from Yahoo!’s investment in Alibaba.com, a Chinese E-Commerce website. Without this, Yahoo! has actually lost 11 cents, or 2.6% from the earlier year. This goes against their expectations of a profit of 9 cents per share. Typically analysts like to exclude events that happen only once, since there is no possibility of it being a revenue earner in the future.

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In any case,  Steve Ballmer, CEO of microsoft says that nothing is going to change Microsoft’s bid. It didn’t make any difference to him whether Yahoo! posted positive or negative gains. An analyst from Cantor Fitzgerald said that there’s probably no way that Yahoo! can fend off Microsoft

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Keeping a close watch on how your company performs is a must for all investors. You can’t just close your eyes, cross your fingers and hope for the best.

One of the best ways to determine how well your company is performing in terms of revenue, liquidity status and credit rating is by looking into its SEC filings (http://www.sec.gov). The filings are usually categorized into 10Q and 10K. The 10Q is a quarterly report filed by the company that contains financial report and information about the nature and details of the business.

The 10K is similar to the 10Q, but is filed annually. Unlike the 10Q, which is more detailed, the 10K is a recap of all financial events that transpired during the fiscal year. The 10K further allows you to find out additional information regarding the amount of stock options awarded to company executives, plus a discussion of the business and marketplace scenario.

If you’re now looking at your company’s 10Q or 10K report, scroll down to where the balance sheet is. Look at total current assets and check it against total current liabilities.

If assets exceed liabilities, this means your company has a working capital, which can be used to finance day to day operations. Along with fixed assets such as plant and equipment, working capital is considered a part of operating capital.

However, if liabilities exceed assets, you have a working capital deficit, and your company may have to obtain more financing from investors and lenders to bridge this financial gap.

Another thing you must look into is the company’s credit rating, which indicates the company’s ability to obtain financing. The higher the credit rating, the more and better credit facilities the company can enjoy.

For companies with low credit rating — the exact opposite is true. A poor rating indicates a high risk of defaulting on a loan, leading to high interest rates, or the creditor’s refusal of a loan.

So this is basically what you need to do to check the health of your investment. You will learn a lot as you delve deeper into your portfolio.

It is best to obtain the services of a financial adviser when in doubt about certain decisions you are about to make. He will make a thorough assessment of your stocks as to where you’re hit the hardest and where you’re gaining the most.