The markets | It's rough out there | Economist.com

The markets It's rough out there Economist.com:
Jan 24th 2008
From The Economist print edition
Panic in the markets is scary. Among policymakers it only makes things worse

THE financial storm that blew up in America's subprime mortgage market last year has become a hurricane. The ill wind from reckless property lending blasted first the market in asset-backed securities, then banks' balance sheets and, most recently, stockmarkets. Across the globe, more than $5 trillion has disappeared from the value of public companies in the first three weeks of January. Many markets are 20% or more below their highs, the informal definition of a bear market. On January 21st share prices plunged from Brazil to Britain in the worst day of trading since September 11th 2001.
Although America's exchanges were closed that day