"I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help you."

In Ben we Trust?

In the wee hours of Tuesday morning January 22, traders woke from a three-day holiday weekend to resume their chores on the floors of America’s exchanges; as they dressed for their commute, most were stunned to see on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” or on their home Bloomberg monitors that foreign stock markets had plunged 5% the previous day! Dow Jones morning futures indicated a similar opening in New York, causing hundreds of viewers to cut themselves shaving! What markets did not yet know is that the Fed had held an emergency conference call the night before (no doubt spurred by the activity abroad) and was about to announce early Tuesday an off-meeting cut in the overnight rate of 3/4% to 3.5%.