Wall Street Opens Down; Could Have Been Worse

The catastrophic markets opening predicted by the Asian markets and the Wall Street futures has not materialized -- yet.

Yes, the Dow is down about 135 points, or 1.5 percent, in the first 15 minutes of trading.

The S&P 500 is down 1.6 percent, and the Nasdaq is down about 1 percent.

But an opening dive of 3 to 6 percent was expected on Wall Street, in line with the world indexes, thanks to the Senate's defeat of the $14 billion autos bailout loans last night.

It looks like the White House is moving toward a capitulation on the autos bailout -- surprising, considering the Bush administration's steadfast opposition to using money from the $700 billion rescue/bailout to help GM, Ford and Chrysler.

-- Frank Ahrens
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