Ooooh boy.  Let the fun begin.  I’m watching the 11am news conference by Hank Paulson.  More info once its released.

Update:  Here’s the shortened version of the story as I see it.  The government’s taking over Fannie and Freddie, removing the CEOs of both companies, and eliminating both preferred and common dividend.  By eliminating the dividends, I don’t think there’s any interest in holding the stock.  Does that mean that FRE and FNM are headed to zero Monday?  My guess would be yes but you never know.

The fallout from the takeover may result in a nice little pop come Monday.  But I’d have to agree with everyone else out in the blogging financial world.  The rally will give great opportunities to short the market and stocks in general, but I can’t see it lasting.  What the government’s done is effectively made the public foot the bill.  On top of everything else, I don’t see how the public can afford any more debt.  Just wish the public would assume my student loans…

Tomorrow should be a fun day.  Dow +300 tomorrow?  Nah.  I think the bears squash the rally tomorrow.  I’d even be inclined to say we fall hard the latter half of the trading day tomorrow.  But in a bear market, anything goes.

Personal update:  PhD qualifiers are Sept. 20th.  Once the 20th comes and goes, I’ll be back full time.  Hopefully in good spirits.