The enormity of the events of the last 24 hours is not just World Trade Center big.  The current situation affects every major economy, and so that places it on the order of Great Depression big.

Case in point, newsmen don’t often use these words simultaneously: panic, spiral, ignominious, and chaotic.   But they were fit for the New York Times to print today as it detailed the harrowing fall of the U.S. stock market which occurred over the last 12-24 hours.

Asia stock markets have also fallen sharply, as reported by Bloomberg.

And as though part of a domino chain, Europe has followed suit.  Reported by the AP.

News agencies and governments are describing this event as a “global retreat” for currencies, stocks, and capital as this economic crisis of confidence, first begun in the U.S. from massive mortgage failures, has now begun to metastasize worldwide.

Even, in a cruel bit of irony, the price of oil has dropped below $90 (US) reaching a 10-month low.  Unfortunately this is not an indicator of increased supply and growing economies, but rather just the opposite, a more omninous sign of lowered demand and withdrawal. 

Closer to home, Korea’s currency has fallen to a 6-year low closing at 1330 won against the dollar as of 9:30am this morning, according to the Korea Times.   Currency is freezing up everywhere, right down to foreign instructors who are finding it less appealing to transfer money back to their home banks.

Said T.J. Marta, a fixed income strategist quoted in the Times, “Today is watching the sky fall.”  The question then is, what happens next?

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