- Last week the markets settled a bit and we thought it was the bottom; the last few days proved it was just a ledge. Overnight U.S. stock futures fell so low after bad news from Asian markets that trading was actually frozen. Some say the S&P has to reach 800 before the bottom is reached, but the big unknown is the psychology of the panic. What will assuage scared investors? Any thoughts?
- It would be a mistake to put too much blame for the current downturn on Alan Greenspan--there's more than enough to go around. Still, his mea culpa on Capitol Hill yesterday seemed to invite grandiose accusations. Dealbreaker has some choice bits. And this was the best part: "I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interest of organizations, specifically banks and others, was such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders." What would Ayn think?
- A one-stop shop for all your scary financial numbers--LIBOR, TED spread, the whole lot of ‘em--at The Deal. Updated regularly.
- Forbes' Joshua Zumbrun has a great rundown of FDIC Chair Sheila Bair's Senate testimony yesterday. The short version: Replicate the job her outfit has done turning around IndyMac--which included reworking thousands of delinquent mortgages--on a system-wide scale.
--Clay Risen