I went away for the weekend. Didn’t check news the whole time. I wake up this morning and all hell, quite literally, has broken loose in the financial markets.

Friday afternoon (after I unplugged from the world) an emergency Fed rate cut was announced. The Fed will probably slash rates again tomorrow at the regular meeting.

Subprime writedowns are really taking the stock market apart as well, with Bear Stearns the first huge company to be brought to the brink of collapse as a result. Last night JPMorgan bought Bear Stearns in an all-stock deal of historic proportions, reports ABC News:

"This is going to go down in very historic terms," said Peter Dunay,
chief investment strategist for New York-based Meridian Equity
Partners. "This is about credit being overextended, and how bad it is
for major financial institutions and for individuals. This is why we’re
probably heading into a recession."

What can you do? We’re in a recession. Get yourself in as good of financial shape as you can and strap in for the ride…