CHAN:
Now let's look at the latest developments on Wall Street. Central banks are cutting interest rates to try and get some stability and positivity back into the market. But by lunchtime, investor sentiment had turned decidedly negative. Let's take a look.
STORY:
U.S. markets went on a wild ride early Wednesday as investors digested a coordinated emergency rate cut from central banks around the world. Led by the Federal Reserve's half-point rate cut, which brings the Fed Funds rate to 1-1/2 percent, central banks including the ECB, slashed rates after a period in which many stock markets around the world have suffered their biggest drops - ever.
But the rate cuts did not totally convince U.S. investors that better days are ahead. Within the first hour of the trading day the Dow swung in a near 400-point range from top to bottom as sellers refused to let go.
David Reilly is director of portfolio strategy at Rydex Investments.
[David Reilly, Rydex Investments]:
"The market's reaction may be an instantaneous rally but they can't be held because the market's overall concern is that the magnitude of the crisis is theoretically, or possibly is, larger than what the central banks and the regulators have been throwing at the crisis."
Not even some much-needed promising signs from the housing market could put fears to rest. Pending home sales showed a surprise jump in August - rising to their best level in over a year.
And buyers appear to be coming out of hiding. Mortgage applications bounced off a one-month low last week as lower interest rates sparked some deal making.
Those signals, however, not strong enough to shake off Wall Street fears - the worst for the economy may be yet to come.
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