The Day In Dead Cats

Dow's tanking hard, down 250-300 range as we head into lunchtime.  Oil and gold are also falling big time.  Not a good day in the free markets, folks.  Euro point man Jean-Claude Juncker is throwing in the towel at this point.

Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the Eurogroup forum of euro zone finance ministers, said the weakness in the euro, down more than 7 percent against the dollar in the past month alone, was likely due to fears that economic growth in the 16 countries that share the currency will slow.

Greece has been forced to impose drastic austerity cuts as the price for the EU bailout, while Spain and Portugal, seen as the markets' next potential targets, have also embarked on painful public spending cuts to rein in their deficits.

Analysts now fear the drive to restore fiscal balances will slow down economies in the European Union just as they recover from the sharp global downturn.

Juncker said markets were acting irrationally.

"There is a certain reluctance to believe the Greeks can overcome the current crisis. I don't think the markets are behaving in a rational way," he told Reuters in Tokyo.

Speaking to reporters after meeting Japanese Finance Minister Naoto Kan, he said he did not see the need to take immediate action on the euro's rapid plunge, but that central banks were in close contact.

We're fine here, everything's fine here, just give us a second to lock down this currency leak...