by Jeffrey P. Snider
Alhambra Partners
On Wednesday, October 8, 2008, the FOMC voted for an emergency 50 bps cut in the federal funds rate, bringing it down to 1.50%. The day prior, the Fed announced that it would be buying short-term debt from businesses after suggesting the day before that it would fund up to $300 billion for “bad” assets. The Friday before that, Congress had passed TARP. With so much happening, stocks were all over the place; the Dow up nearly 200 points during that Wednesday trading but also down as much as 252. In just one week, DJIA was some 1,600 points lower.