CHESSNOID

The markets were closed today for the Martin Luther King Jr Holiday.  Tomorrow is the Obama inauguration.  I would have guessed the market would have some upward follow through from last Friday’s close.  When I checked the stock futures, I was surprised to see it trending downwards.

	Dow	-79.00	-0.96%	8,164.00
	NASDAQ	-13.00	-1.09%	1,184.00
	S&P	-9.00	-1.06%	839.60

The economy is still in a recession, but usually the markets or investors will react with current events. I can’t remember if when Bush was elected if the markets were up or down, but I would have just assumed they would be up for Obama.

I guess we can just wait and see how it unfolds tomorrow. My guess is the bad news overseas is affecting the markets here.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) —

European shares closed lower on Monday, led by Royal Bank of Scotland, which dragged down the European banking sector after it said it would report a 2008 loss of up to $41.34 billion for 2008.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed down 1.6% to 791.23 points, the benchmark’s lowest close since Nov. 21, according to Reuters data, after it had briefly been down 3%.

Banks took the most points off the index and were the heaviest sectoral loser. Royal Bank of Scotland plunged 64.3% and nearly lost two thirds of its value during today’s session, after it announced what would be the biggest loss in British corporate history.

Asia stock markets had a bad hit too.

Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) —

Asian stocks and U.S. futures slumped after the U.K. widened a rescue plan for Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, sparking concerns that more companies will need bailouts as the global recession deepens.

HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s largest bank, lost 6.7 percent in Hong Kong amid speculation the U.K. will take full control of RBS after the lender forecast the biggest loss in British history. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, dropped 5.1 percent in Sydney after oil and aluminum prices fell. Elpida Memory Inc. tumbled 5 percent in Tokyo after postponing its earnings announcement.