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Today's market opened with a surge, closely resembling the inverted version of the chart in my previous post. Source: http://markets.nikkei.co.jp/kokunai/ I find it hard to believe this is a sustainable gain, and my guess is Nikkei 225 will drop back below 9,000.

We all know that times are tough and bound to get even tougher. But when I was watching the Nikkei 225 plunging down 10% during the first hour of trading, it came to a point where I was seriously considering what I would do if the financial industry collapses altogether, and I will be facing the unpleasant task of finding a way to earn my living amid the World Great Depression II. Nikkei 225 Index first hour of trading Oct 10, 2008 Source: http://markets.nikkei.co.jp/kokunai/ Luckily, the stock market recovered just a little after that, suggesting the worst was over. Or maybe still to come.

To the Fed and the ECB: Congratulations, gentlemen! You have miserably failed. This is bad for you and for the world economy. Chart: First hours of trading in NY Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500, % change d-o-d Source: Google Finance The markets reacted to the joint actio n by Fed, ECB and several European central banks with a moment of optimism, and then continued their way downwards. For the invest ors it was too late too little once again. Now it is really hard to tell when the bottom will be reached. Or if.

The Wall Street Journal's Asian Edition front page today features the world map, showing the countries where the stock markets tumbled yesterday in red. It looks like a one solid blood stain, because for all the countries shown, markets were down. So much for the decoupling theories... Source: Wall Street Journal