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Hi All:

___Not worthy of a news story today as we have so much on GM and Chrysler but the markets are being roiled for all kinds of reasons.

___As Obama signed his $787 billion stimulus bill and automakers scrambled to introdue the latest restructuring plans, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed down 297.81 points, or 3.79 percent, at 7,552.60 — just 31-hundredths of a point above its post-meltdown Nov. 20 close of 7,552.29, which was its lowest close in five-and-a-half years. The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) index fell 37.67, or 4.56 percent, to 789.17. The index came with 48 points of its 11-year low of 741.02.

___This is begining to get a bit scary.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Buckle up and secure the hatches. This is going to be a bumpy ride. :(

Unfortunately, this is likely understating the bad news.

The DJIA is a price-weighted average, and not market-cap weighted. That means that the low-price members (Bank of America, Citi, GM) each contribute less than 0.5% to the average. If one of them simply disappeared, the index would drop by less than 50 points. If IBM did the same, it would drop by over 700 points!