Red Ink

The weekend saw a couple of dramas unfolding on Wall Street. Lehman Brothers is the latest financial firm to fall because of the problems in the credit market. While the Feds helped Bear Sterns find a suitor, then stepped in for Freddie and Fannie, Paulson refused to lend a hand to Lehman. The Koreans expressed an interest, then backed up after weighing the risks. The Feds' decision to finally let the free market work caused Merrill Lynch to take an offer from Bank of America. Two big announcements caused uncertainty to sweep the globe. Overseas markets were down around 4% before our opening bell. By the end of the day, we were matching that decline. DJIA -504.48 NASDAQ -81.36 S&P 500 -59.00