Though I am NOT an expert, but this appears to me as a clasical shake out. The so called 'Credit Squeeze' brought on by the 'Subprime Scam' is being used to take shares of NOT and many other very good companies away from over-extended and unsteady shareholders.

As for the other big picture styff;

I am not supporting Bernanke etc., But as for other aspects of the big pictuer, the 10 year Bond is slipping under 4% yield and the 2 year bond and other near term Bonds and Money Markets have more down ward Yield pressure as well. Inter Bank Over Night Loan Rates are way up and remaining way up. To me these things suggest a lot of cash is seeking Bond security short term to long term while Banks are in a tight credit squeeze (they do not trust one another  -- I wonder why?).

What this means to me is that those Bond investors will, at some point, soon determine that there are much better places to put their cash  - Resource companies like Noront for instance - for better returns. In the mean time the Dollar receives that much more support than otherwise would be the case.

China has the bigger problem with respect to inflation and will also find it increasingly difficult to keep its Currency from appreciating and appreciating smartly. This will help the Dollar more than keeping the 'Bank Rate' artificially high and consequently Bernanke will lower the Bench Mark. The low Bond Yields will allow more Mortgages to be renewed at better rates than would have been expected currently.

Many levers and sliding scales at work !

Old Joe