Another historic day and massive drop in the Dow. We had a 797 point range during the day! In the third primary leg of a bar market, I stated that this leg and any follow legs will exhibit the most erratic and volatile sessions of all. The reason is because we’re at a point where almost everyone just wants to liquidate, liquidate, liquidate.

I don't have a link to the article as this was e-mailed to me in plain text, but thought I would pass it along to all of you out there.

Commentary by Ann Woolner
Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- It is one thing to re-pitch the Wall Street bailout bill to encourage finger-in-the-wind elected lawmakers to enact it.

Just came across this article on ClusterStock and thought it was very insightful. Henry Blodget has a 14 point list on how the proposed bailout will play out. I think there is a lot of truth in this article, a must read for everyone.

Stocks in the financial sector have seen their fair share of difficulties. At some point, bargains will certainly surface in this beaten down sector. As an investor, one will want to analyze these investment opportunities in order to determine the attractiveness of these investments. Following are some of the key metrics one should review when analyzing financial firms.

For Christmas tax payers will receive a bill for $700 billion.

What a wild ride today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 500 points today on a slough of bad news in the financial sector. I asked my friends on Twitter for a recap and below I think you will find a well written market summary.

September 15, 2008
By Jamie Dlugosch, Editor, InvestorPlace

A look at how sectors have performed over the last year

China Finance, Inc. (OTCBB: CHFI) announced that its subsidiary is China Construction Bank’s (CCB) newest loan guarantor. On Sept. 1, CCB and China Finance’s wholly-owned operating subsidiary, Shenzhen Hua Yin Guaranty and Investment Limited Liability Corporation (”SHY”), entered into a Memo of Bank-Guaranty Cooperation and a Guaranty Cooperation Agreement.

The U.S. Treasury Department finally stepped up to the plate over the weekend and seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The nation’s largest mortgage lenders have had implicit federal backing as government sponsored enterprises (GSEs).

Have you ever thought about which banks makeup the list of top 50 banks in the world?
Well if you haven’t then read on.Of the world’s top 50 banks, 17 are available to invest in the US as they as ADRs. The following table contains these stocks with their current price and yield rates.

Just because the stock market plunges that doesn't mean you should sell. In fact it you may need to buy more shares.

JP Morgan has proven itself to be human this week by forewarning of further write-downs in the present quarter related to credit market turmoil. The iconic bank had avoided much of this carnage up until recently. This is causing some to question the thesis that a bottom in financials was reached in July.

BAC is a dividend aristocrat as well as a major component of the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrials indexes. The company has been increasing its dividends for the past 30 consecutive years. From 1998 up until July 2008 this dividend growth stock has delivered an annual average total return of 3.60 % to its shareholders.

It's going to be a tough day for the bulls tomorrow. Stocks will open down in most sectors tomorrow morning. The top news is that although AAPL, Apple Computer announced their earnings increased 31% but their cautious forecast is what investors were focusing on. The stock was down about 20 points after the regular market hours closed.

NWLIA is a life insurance company headquartered in Austin, TX. It sells a wide variety of life insurance products including annuities, universal life insurance, fixed indexed annuities, fixed indexed universal life, and term and whole life products. Most of its domestic sales are annuities. It also has a large international life insurance business...