President Bush Speaks in Attempt to Calm Stock Market Fears

The latest in news from Wall Street is that President Bush spoke to the nation this morning in an attempt to calm fears about the credit crisis. It was a brief statement acknowledging anxiety among both investors and the general public about the economy.

“We can solve this crisis and we will,” Bush said.

Wall Street wavered in another volatile day Friday, touched off by a global rout on concerns that even lower interest rates won't help end the worsening credit crisis. The Dow Jones industrials dropped below 8,000 shortly after trading began, regained all of that deficit to show an advance — and then declined again.

Frozen credit markets and a loss of confidence in the world's financial system have caused the Dow to tumble 21 percent in just 10 trading days. The blue chip index dropped 678 points Thursday, and is heading to its worst weekly point drop ever.

Friday's gyrations were likely caused by computer-driven buy orders that kicked in when prices had fallen far enough to make some stocks look like attractive bets. But that buying reflected no lifting of the market's deep despair, and selling continued.

Stay tuned as this crisis is far from over.