The Bailout Bill is being voted down, but the voting is being held open in the hope of changes. The Dow was down about 250 points before the vote, then dropped to 680 points down, but has rebounded to down about 500 points.
UPDATE (2pm ET): The NASDAQ is down a staggering 129 points.
2D UPDATE (2:15pm ET): The Bailout Bill has failed.
The Dow is down 4.8%.
NASDAQ: -6.9%.
SP 500: -6.6%
Brazilian market (BVSP): -10.1%
Chinese ADRs (BKCN): -10%
3D UPDATE: The expected volatility, as measured by the CBOE VIX index is at about 45. If it closed there, it would be the highest close ever recorded (or at least as far as I found data, going back to 1990). In other words, fear is at a higher level than in 1998 or post 9/11.
4th UPDATE (5pm ET): The Dow finished down 777 points. The SP 500 had its second worst day since 1950 (down 8.4%). Barney Frank was genuinely funny making fun of Republicans whose feelings might have been hurt by Nancy Pelosi’s speech. He offered to go to each of the offended Republicans and speak uncharacteristically nicely to them.