Markets Down In First Big Day Of 2009

Even though the markets were open on Friday, today will be the first high-volume trading day of 2009 and everyone will be watching to see what sort of tone they set for the new year.

In the first 15 minutes of trading, the Dow is down about 90 points, or nearly 1 percent.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are both down about 1 percent.

Automakers are set to release December and full-year 2008 sales data today.

Expect retail holiday sales reports to fall in line with what analysts were predicting in early December -- grim.

Borders reported today that holiday sales were down 11.7 percent compared to last year.

Also in an unrelated and bizarre sight, Henry Kissinger showed up on the floor of the NYSE talking to Mark Haines and Erin Burnett on CNBC. He called President-elect Obama's cabinet appointments "extraordinarily able."

-- Frank Ahrens
The Ticker is Twittering!