Belmont Club » The White Swan | Monday should be interesting - not in a good way.

CNN reports that Timothy Geithner is will attend a teleconference meeting with G7 finance ministers. “The talks expected to occur before Asian markets open for Monday trading follow Friday’s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating to AA+ from the top rank of AAA. It was the first time in history the nation was rated below AAA.”

Events are now moving faster than the stately pace of jet travel can keep up with. The first markets to open provided a gloomy prognosis for Monday’s opening bells in Europe and the US. “Middle Eastern markets that were the first to open since the downgrade were sharply lower on Sunday. Israel’s market temporarily halted trade at one point and finished down more than 6%, while the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index fell more than 5% for its biggest drop since January.”