Commodities fell too!  Crude Oil down 5%  (to $104.48 - don't blink, that's still very high!).  The yuan is down to 7.066 to buy $1!

OH, ... 60 degrees for the high today (44 still for the low).

I know that diesel prices are increasing here today.  Trucks were lined up in front of gas stations everywhere.  Took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to make a 50 minute trip to the other campus yesterday!!!  My Chinese friends confirmed that prices will increase!

The HUGE powerhouse Morgan Stanley (stock broker) wrote down an additional $2.3 billion in bad loans.  HOWEVER, as with Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs, profits were better than Wall Street expected.  Therefore, a free fall in stocks due to the Bear Stearns type of problems is not in the cards (at least not yet)!

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae also were allowed more leaway.  Loosening their capital requirement from 30% to 20% will allow them up to $200 million more to lend.  (See the Wall Street Journal).

Well, I have 8 am classes three days this term and 4 to 6 hours of class.  Oh, I also travel 4 hours most of those days too!  Laughing - no worries, I enjoy riding the buses, talking with people, seeing the city, listening to Radiohead, the Rolling Stones, U2, Janis Joplin, Dave Mathews, etc. etc.!

Very big grin!