Bad Friday

Cold and rainy here in Atlanta and the early warnings from the international markets are indicating that it will be a baaaad day on Wall Street as well. The economic crisis is not going to go away and we still haven't seen the bottom of the markets.

Stock index futures tumbled so sharply on Friday they had to be frozen at several points as global markets tumbled on signs the global economy is in the throes of recession.

Stock markets were in freefall around the world as panicked investors moved to liquidate risky positions. Japan's Nikkei index ended down 9.6 percent and European shares lost 8 percent.

By 7:00 a.m. in New York December Dow Jones futures were down 6.3 percent, Standard & Poor's 500 futures were off 6.6 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures were down 6.8 percent.

All three contracts lost the maximum amount permissible before the start of futures trading in the United States.

Both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq said trading would open as normal at 9:30 a.m EDT.

With all the futures contracts up against a hard stop it doesn't bode well for investors. You want fries with that?