Hi Rock Licker
You commented that... " A wave of panic selling swept over the markets as investors' fears about Europe's ability to manage its sovereign debt worsened. "
This is certainly true, and a continuing worry for all markets.
I just want to say that the main reason for the drop of 1000 points in the Dow in 20 minutes was due to a Broker placing an order to sell 200 BILLION shares of Procter & Gamble instead of 200 million shares!
This caused the initial global panic, and computer program trading and High Frequency trading kicked in and the cascading drop followed. Of course, the dire European sovereign debt situation added to the problem, and is still out there.
Very dangerous markets.
Jacki