Overnight Market Plunge

What, you expected to wake up to good news? A day after the Dow closed below 9,000 for the first time in five years, European and Asian markets tanked—many shedding 10 percent, before recovering slightly later in the day. Futures trading indicates that the Dow will fall two percent upon opening. Nervous investors are turning their eyes to Washington, where they hope a meeting of the G-7 nations will help ease their anxieties. "It is a must for the G-7 countries, especially the U.S., to make a firm commitment to public fund injections for recapitalization of banks in trouble, in order to see the stock market pull out of the doldrums," one Japanese analyst told Reuters.