I'm writing a bit early today [2:08 AM Eastern], so the markets still have time to move a lot in Asia before the close. Cross your fingers that they do or Wall Street could be in for another really awful day, as Japan's Nikkei is down more than 7.8% at this writing, the Hang Seng is down 4.66%, the S&P/ASX 200 is down 2.64% and US stock market futures are down 1.5% (NASDAQ) to 3.5% (DJIA). NYMEX crude oil futures are down 50 cents from Thursday's New York close.

Jobless Claims - October 23, 2008

• Initial Claims: 478,000


• Change from Last Week: Up 15,000


• 4-Week Moving Average: 480,250

Money Supply - October 23, 2008

• M1 Seasonally Adjusted Prior Month: $1453.8 billion


• M1 4-Week Average: $1477.4 billion

ortgage rates below year ago levels

Freddie Mac reported lower Fixed Rate Mortgage (FRM) rates this week
and a slight increase in Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) rates, while
RealtyTrac reported that home foreclosures fell 12% in September.
Freddie Mac’s weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey showed 15-year FRM,
30-year FRM and 1-year ARM rates all at least a quarter percent lower
than the same week last year.

Mexican economy down across the board

The oil dependent Mexican economy showed serious weakness in August,
with the Leading Index dropping 0.9% following on the heels of a small gain in the Leading Index and a 0.5% drop in the Coincident Index in July.

Shipping Firms Gear Down

Transportation
companies are reporting sharply lower freight volumes, a sign that the
pipelines of global commerce have begun to slow.

IMF Moves to Ease Borrowing Policy

The IMF plans to help developing nations weather the
financial crisis by providing loans that don't require borrowers to
make far-reaching policy changes.

Deeper Job Cuts Risk Steepening Slump

Employers grappling with the financial crisis are accelerating job cuts in
multiple industries, potentially deepening the economic downturn.

Paulson Planning to Buy Stakes in Regional U.S. Banks to Unfreeze Credit Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is
preparing to take stakes in a number of regional U.S. banks as he
seeks to halt the freeze of credit to businesses and households,
according to a person briefed on the matter.

South Korea's Economy Slows, Stoking Concern of First Recession Since 1998 South Korea's economy expanded at
the slowest pace in four years last quarter, sparking concern
the nation is headed for its first recession since requiring an
International Monetary Fund bailout 10 years ago.

China Pressed to Join Credit-Crisis Fight as Asian, European Leaders Meet China, the world's largest holder of
foreign currency, will be pressed to get more involved in
combating the global financial crisis at today's biennial summit
of Asian and European leaders.

India's Subbarao May Shift Stance to Growth From Prices as Economy Cools When India's central bank governor
Duvvuri Subbarao took office in early September, combating
inflation was his ``immediate'' priority. In seven weeks, his
agenda has changed.

Bank of Japan Rate Cut Speculation Increases Amid Concern of a Recession Speculation the Bank of Japan will
cut interest rates is growing on concern that the world's second-
largest economy will suffer a prolonged recession.

Brazil to Pump $50 Billion Into Currency Market to Stem 28% Slide in Real Brazil's central bank will pump the
equivalent of $50 billion into currency markets, its boldest move
yet to stem a two-month, 28 percent tumble in the real that has
saddled companies with losses and stoked inflation.

U.S. M-2 money supply rose $43.6 bln Oct 13 week

US jobless claims advance more than forecast

U.S. home prices fell in August vs July - FHFA