Well here we are waiting on the morning of the opening bell.  The futures market is showing extreme weakness going into the open.  That isn’t anything out of the ordinary considering the news from Sunday.  Looking at the international markets, specifically Europe they are all DOWN.  Finance is getting slammed.  This isn’t surprising, but a very harsh reality.  The swiftness of Bank of America (BAC) coming in and swooping up Merrill Lynch (MER) and letting Lehman (LEH) fail seems suspect, but I have no proof of that.  Time will be the ultimate judge of what is to come.  We are going to see an amazing consolidation of the banking powers in the world.  

Dow futures: Down 366 points
Nasdaq futures: Down 49 points
S&P 500: Down 45 points 

Hang onto your shorts this is going to be a roller coaster ride.