The markets are deep in negative territory again today and investors are not too happy with Henry Paulson. Is he changing the rules in the middle of the game, or is he merely reacting because the game has changed?

Earlier today, the Secretary of the Treasury stood in front of an audience of Wall Street reporters and gave the country an update on the Trouble Asset Relief Program (TARP) and his team’s efforts to shore up the nation’s economy. What he had to say is taking some investors by surprise.

Most importantly, Paulson noted he would not use the TARP to buy the troubled assets of the nation’s financial institutions (like the name of the program implies). Instead, the Treasury Department will…

The yen can provide a key hedge in a world which consists of continuous intermittent bouts of unwinding leverage. But, I do think the Fed’s recent actions during the Bear Stearns affair helped bring a modicum of confidence back to the credit markets.