Strangely enough, it appears that the extreme reactions in the overnight trades in Europe and Asia were not due to their fears over our (legitimately) precarious economy, but rather the moves of a single trader at Societe Generale SA was responsible for a $7 billion dollar loss [WSJ via Marc Andreson]:
Early details, including accounts from executives at the French bank, paint a picture of an ordinary trader (Jérôme Kerviel) who used extraordinary means to game the bank’s own system and hide massive unauthorized trades on stock indexes. Even as bank executives were scrambling to deal with the trail of destruction, they were at a loss to describe his motivations. Société Générale executives said that the early investigation indicated the trader didn’t earn a dime on his actions. They also said he appeared to be acting alone.
