Final Exams are almost ready to be "reviewed" (by whomever?), due today at 10 am, CST (China Standard Time).  FYI, we have no scheduled Final Exam.  The Final for my Macroeconomics classes will ALL be taken at the same time so someone has to arrange all of "THAT"!!  We are just finishing the 7th week of 10 weeks.  Finals are the two weeks AFTER the 10 week semester.

The reason I am following the Financial Markets so closely is in about 4 - 5 weeks I begin teaching Financial Markets and Institutions.  While I have taught this Finance course (or the Economic equivalent, Money and Banking) more than 40 times, MUCH OF THE COURSE next term will be new!!!  FDIC, Fed responsibility, market volatility, etc.!

So here goes:
              

While the Dow Industrials (30 stocks) and the S&P 500 (broader market of 500 stocks only on the NYSE) were up 2% and 1.25% respectively, the Nasdaq was down 0.7%.  All of the markets swung back up significantly during the last hour of trading AGAIN!!!  The Nasdaq was down almost 5% before the last hour.

Some quotes from the New York Times article:

“Today just really sums up how on edge this market is,” said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer’s Investment Research. “This the new market we are living in.”

Stocks were buffeted by mostly disappointing news throughout the day, with lower than expected earnings and outlooks reports from a range of companies. In addition, the number of Americans filing new unemployment claims was higher than expected.

“I think what we have here is a very nervous bear market with very little liquidity,” said Michael Holland, chairman of Holland & Company.

But energy stocks gained, helped by a rise in oil prices on expectations that Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would cut production levels Friday at a meeting in Vienna.

The home building and real estate sectors were both down about 20 percent, dragging down the S.&P. index. Further bad news is expected Friday morning, when the National Association of Realtors releases its monthly report on home sales.

Despite the end of the day gains, continuing signs of a global economic slowdown tempered any uplifting news. Signs of improvement in the credit markets slowed, even as Alan Greenspan, testifying before a House committee, told lawmakers, “We are in the midst of a once-in-a-century credit tsunami.”

The former chairman of the Federal Reserve expressed optimism in the long-term outlook for the economy, saying investors would emerge from the current crisis with a “far sounder financial system.” But his short-term outlook was bleak.

“Given the financial damage to date, I cannot see how we can avoid a significant rise in layoffs and unemployment,” Mr. Greenspan said.

SIGH, even Alan "BABY" is now using the "R" word (that's as close as Alan EVER gets - a Multiple Choice question on my exams always: the definition of a recession is lower income and higher unemployment)!!