It doesn’t look as though it will be a Fantastico Friday in stocks. Yesterday was a bloodletting, overnight the Japanese stock market sold off 11%, and Europe is down about 9% at this point. UGH! But according to Chuck Butler, “When things look bleak, the dollar goes up… And when it looks as though all the stimulus might work, the dollar sells off…”

When US stocks dived following the passing of the bailout bill, President Bush sought to calm investors. He said it would “take a while” for the bill to take effect. Problem is George W doesn’t have much of time.

In less than one month, Americans will vote into office either Barack Obama or John McCain. Each has very different ideas about how to tackle the financial crisis.

Martin Hutchinson says Obama is most likely to win on a populist anti-Wall Street platform. But if he follows up this rhetoric with more regulation and protectionism, this could hurt US investors even more in the long run.

Retirement Plans Lose $2 Trillion; eBay Sells Out Workforce; Eli Settles Marketing Dispute; Morgan Stanley Gets OK on Capital Infusion; IMF Says Rough Economic Times Ahead; Wachovia Split?

Despite a $700 billion bailout plan and huge injections of liquidity, money markets are frozen. Today, the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), which measures the cost of lending between banks, hit new record highs for all currencies.

Money Morning’s Keith Fitz-Gerald says this shows the worst is still to come in this credit crisis.

Keith has three recommendations for investors: 1) Hold T-bills; 2) Look for inverse investments; and 3) Include hard assets and inflationary hedges in your portfolio.

After a day of dueling lawsuits yesterday (Monday), all parties agreed to halt litigation for two days as Citigroup Inc. (C) and Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) continued to squabble over rights to purchase Wachovia Corp. (WB).