Desperate Times, Desperate Actions

Good morning. Premarket futures have a positive tone as central banks around the world take coordinated action to flood global money markets with massive amounts of U.S. dollars. According to Bloomberg, about $3.6 trillion of market value has been erased from global stocks this week and the central banks have now moved into full crisis mode.

In other news, initial jobless claims came in higher than expected, oil and precious metal prices are jumping higher, and focus remains on the future of many financials, especially Washington Mutual and Morgan Stanley. There is also lots of chatter this morning that the government will ban and/or severely restrict short-selling very soon in some unique ways including bringing back the uptick rule.

Premarket gainers: AIG, WM, WB, UBS, MER, C, ACGY, HEK, ROS, IBKR, NXG, CS, URI, GFI, LYG, SSRI, BAC, BEXP, RBS, DB, CEG, BCS, WFC, CHU, PRGO, LVLT, GFI, SLV, AAUK, ENER, MBI, PAAS, GOLD, & ESLR.

Premarket losers: MS, CPST, UAUA, CRNT, JBLU, APOG, PLD, PRGS, TCB, GS, AMR, NWA, LCC, CAL, AAI, DAL, WFMI, & TRN.

At 10:AM we have the final two economic datapoints of the week - Leading Indicators & the Philadelphia Fed Survey. Neither one will probably sway sentiment much since the market is more concerned with the ongoing credit crisis. And, please keep in mind that we have options expiration tomorrow which also tends to see some unusual trading action both today, tomorrow, and again on Monday.

Have a terrific Thursday!