Markets Recover Some Early Losses

As lunchtime kicks off, Wall Street is trying to regain its footing after tripping at the opening bell.

At noon, the Dow is trading down about 114 points, somewhat recovered from its morning drop of more than 200 points.

The S&P is off about 1.3 percent and the Nasdaq is down nearly 1.5 percent.

Why the slight recovery?

Possibly because further assurances have been emerging through the morning that the Senate seems likely to pass a version of the $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan.

On the other hand, the markets' recovery may have nothing at all to do with any event in any universe, including the one in which we reside or any parallel ones.

-- Frank Ahrens