Asian markets are set to open with an absolute thump today, after the Dow Jones Industrial Index suffered its biggest point lost ever, falling 2998 points, or almost 30% of its value in a frenzied day of trading.
The index closed at 7992, piercing through the psychologically important level of 10000.
In a rapid sequence of events over the weekend, analysis was conducted by the SEC to ascertain what exactly happened.
It seems the blame lies squarely on the negative sentiment of the sovereign debt crisis, which has its exodus in Europe, spreading a contagion like plague all over the world. China's sovereign reserves are now being called to question, due to lack of transparency and opaqueness in disclosure.
Other traders have placed the blame squarely on the European regulators, who banned short selling in Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy and France, after European indexes suffered massive falls earlier last week. With futures contracts expected to rollover, traders and fund managers were unable to hedge their positions in various asset classes, and began to indiscriminately sell other markets.
The Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) fell 50% to close at 2600 points, after heavyweight banks took the brunt of the selling. Barclays, Llyods and RBS are at historical lows respectively, with HSBC trading at just 3 pence above the low of the 2008 Financial crisis.
The German DAX, the standard bearer for the European Union suffered the greatest decline falling 55% as stocks like Astra Zeneca, SAP, Thyssen Krup and Deutsche Bank fell dramatically on heavy volume.
Over the weekend further revelations will spook the Asian markets this morning.
In a rapid fire deal, Bank of America, Societe Generale, UniCredit and Banco Santander conducted a hasty merger to pool their assets, and as of today will be trading under the name of Societe Banque Credit America.
The combined assets and balance sheets of all for banks have amalgamated to form a monolith with Tier 1 reserves of 4%, well above the 1% each were trading at individually.
Societe Banque Credit America (SBCA) will begin trading on the Greece stock exchange, in an effort to stimulate the economy with equity transaction fees. The market capitalisation of the 4 combined banks is set to rival Australia's Suncorp Metway.
This happened after Bank of America suffered 40% declines on Friday on rumors of huge exposures to Greece. At 2pm Eastern Time, there was massive runs on Bank of America branches as the news filtered through CNBC.
In other news, Goldman Sachs has purchased Sicily from the Italian government for a princely sum of 400 million Euros. The island will be named Calamari, and will house Goldman Sach's holiday homes for their star traders. Warren Buffet has also got a piece of Italy, by bidding above Goldman Sachs for the island of Capri, valued and transacted at 85 million Euros.
The Italian minister Berlusconi said "After the sale of these two magnificent islands, Italy can now pay their debts. The loss of Sicily and Capri is sad for most Italians, but we are now solvent."
Greece is said to be in talks to sell Mykonos to Roman Abramovich, while Spain is mulling the sale of two of its biggest assets, Real Madrid FC and Barcelona FC to chinese tycoon Stanley Ho and Li Kah Shing.
China too has begun to contract its economic reach, in choosing to shut down imports of commodities. This was announced on Sunday evening, as China premier Wen Jia Bao announced on a press release that China's open door policy will cease effective Monday 22nd August, and warns all foreigners they have 96 hours to leave China or risk government action.
Australian markets are set to plunge on the opening bell, with indicative pricing of BHP at 9.00 AUD and Rio Tinto at 12.00. The withdrawal of China will affect the country the most, with the aussie Battler now currently gapping down and trading at 55 cents to the US dollar.
Finally, on Sunday midnight, Standard and Poors, Moody's and Fitch were shut down by US regulators on "fradulent valuations" of Collateralised Debt Obligations that were presented for ratings at all 3 agencies from the period of 2003 to 2008.
A hastily formed government body, the Panel Of Oversight and Fair Scrutiny (POOFS) led by former Treasurer Hank Paulson and ex rogue trader Nick Leeson will conduct ratings.
POOFS immediately issued a statement reaffirming US bonds and government agencies as AAAA++, the highest ratings possible, while downgrading China's investment grade to ZZZZ-- the lowest possible rating given.
As the result, 2 year Treasuries rose sharply to a yield of 0.7% as money flocked into the US, driving the US dollar higher against all currencies.
Meanwhile, Warren Buffet has also in a dramatic turn of events, found to be running a complicated Ponzi scheme, with Berkshire Hathaway now the world's first listed Ponzi Scheme.
(20min delay)