I guess the news from the central banks is as good a place to start as any.

It looks like the the Federal Reserve’s initiative to buy commercial paper is bearing fruit, to the tune of $145.7 billion between October 27 and October 31….Annualize it out, it’s about 7.6 trillion a year.

I also must note that the Bank of Japan cut rates for the first time in 7 years.

It also looks like the ECB will be cutting rates at their next meeting, because Euro Zone inflation numbers were low.

I’m not sure that it’s going to help when consumer spending is falling, by 0.3% in September.

Remember, even though it seems a very long time ago, the Lehman collapse was on September 15, halfway through the month, so the October will likely be worse.

In real estate, one of the leading indicators, the Architecture Billings Index, which presages construction by 9-12 months just dropped off a cliff.

This ain’t no ‘V’ shaped recession.

In any case, the oncoming recession has significantly lowered commodities prices in October, even oil, which posted a record drop, though it was up yesterday to $67.81/bbl.

GMAC is looking at becoming a bank and restructuring extensively.

Finally some historical chart pr0n, graphs or recent market crashes:

VERY scary image courtesy of Calculated Risk.

Click image for full size graphic.