The NYTimes’ Floyd Norris is blogging through much of today, as the world fears the worst. Right now:
strong>11:42 a.m. | Rally: The Dow is down less than 200 points for the day, which means it is up 300 points from the low.
But earlier:
10:40 a.m. | October Blues: Here are some October performances, through a few minutes ago. In each case, I took a major index from the country in question. All figures are in U.S. dollars.
U.S., down 26%
Canada. down 37%
Mexico, down 44%
Argentina, down 43%
Brazil, down 48%
Chile, down 30%
Peru, down 42%
Britain, down 31%
Germany, down 35%
France, down 31%
Switzerland, down 20%
Italy, down 30%
Ireland, down 35%
Iceland, down 83%
Netherlands, down 35%
Belgium, down 37%
Denmark, down 35%
Finland, down 26%
Greece, down 45%
Poland, down 46%
Czech Republic, down 45%
Russia, down 53%
Hungary, down 50%
Lithuania, down 37%
Turkey, down 50%
South Africa, down 42%
Israel, down 22%Japan, down 23%
Hong Kong, down 30%
China, down 21%
Taiwan, down 23%
South Korea, down 46%
Australia, down 34%
New Zealand, down 25%
India, down 36%
Singapore, down 35%The variance is not that great, with the exception of poor Iceland. And remember that prices were way down from last year before October began.
You will note that the United States is among the best performers. Don’t you feel better now?
Spain, down 33%