The Federal Reserve is meeting this afternoon in Washington amid the global markets tanking, but it is unclear whether there is anything that the monetary policy-setting board can do to stop the market madness.
After Wall Street had a mini-crash yesterday there was plenty of volatility overnight in the Asian markets, which mostly saw another big dip, and the European markets are again on a roller-coaster ride of their own.
Add in that the Dow Futures are on a wild up-and-down swing of their and it all spells another shaky day for Wall Street investors.
The Fed will deliver its interest-rate decision at 2:15 p.m. edt, and banks and investors are wondering whether there will be any hint of a third round of quantitative easing, known as QE3 — a sort of stimulus program in which the central banks buy up stocks and other paper to try to stabilize the markets.
Read more from Kenneth R. Bazinet at The Baz File