Look out below/updated

11: 50 EST

Auto bailout off.

Hong Kong down 7% and falling
Japan down 4% and falling
Dow set to open down 350 and falling

Here’s a picture of what the S&P futures look like at about 1AM Eastern
(Image from CNN). Amazingly, futures seem to be rising, though Hong Kong and Japan look like they’re down for the count.

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And Yves has this cheery bit of news:

The Wall Street Journal, in a typically anodyne bit of reporting, tells us that the Fed is considering selling its own debt to finance its balance sheet, Its good old buddy, the Treasury Department, which heretofore has been selling bills in part on behalf of the Fed, now has a big enough financing calendar in the offing that it no longer can lend a helping hand.

In other words, the Fed is not just going to print money, it is going to imagine it into existence.

Ripples to follow. Big ripples.

David Glovin and David Sheer, Bloomberg:

Bernard Madoff, founder and president of a New York firm that invested funds for wealthy individuals, hedge funds and other institutions, was charged with operating what he told employees was a long-running $50 billion Ponzi scheme in what may be one of the largest frauds in history….