Eight Hours And Counting

Before Asian markets open for Monday trading. Still no coordinated world action on markets, the US and Australia have gone their own way along with the UK with various different plans (all short on most details) and now the rest of Europe is trying to catch up by putting something in the hopper before the clock runs out.

European leaders met to forge a new set of measures to combat the credit freeze after their failure to act a week ago contributed to the worst sell-off in the region's stocks in two decades.

``I want Europe to speak with one voice for Europe and for the world because this is a global crisis,'' French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters as he greeted European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Sarkozy said he's seeking ``an ambitious, coordinated plan.''

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose government earlier this month rejected French suggestions to form a joint bank- rescue fund, said yesterday the euro region will implement ``the same toolbox of instruments.'' Merkel, Sarkozy and their counterparts in the 15-nation euro region are being forced to shift stance as a deepening slide in financial markets has threatened to tip Europe into a prolonged recession.

``Measures by euro-area governments to end the financial crisis have been uncoordinated and insufficient,'' said Juergen Michels, a Citigroup Inc. economist in London. ``Increasing risks of an economic disaster might force governments to set up more coordinated and more comprehensive measures.''

U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown met Sarkozy, Barroso and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet. The leaders of the euro nations then gathered at 5 p.m. local time. The talks come after finance chiefs from the Group of Seven nations established guidelines on Oct. 10 for combating the credit crunch, while falling short of adopting new initiatives.

The odds of something happening in time for tomorrow are almost nil. It will be another punishing week for world markets.

If a 20-25% market drop across multiple global markets one week isn't enough to motivate a concentrated, focused, and coordinated response from the G7, what will it take to do the trick? If we lose another 25% this week, will this type of massive global multi-trillion dollar response even be enough?

We've gone from 14,000+ on the Dow to 8,200 in the space of a year, with 2,000 points of that loss coming in just one week...and still the world is fiddlefarting around.

Dow 6,000, here we come?