Like most married men with a newborn child, economist David H. Wang's nights and weekends are filled with baby care, and diapers galore.

"And telephone calls," Wang said.

Telephone calls?

"Frantic telephone calls from family and friends in China," said Wang, who grew up in China before moving permanently to the states in 1989. "They all want to know, 'should I sell this stock here?' or 'sell this mutual fund?' or 'get out of the market entirely?' Compared to dealing with these calls, baby care is easy."

You can understand why Wang's family and friends may be nervous and seeking his advice. The S&P 500 is on-pace to record its worst monthly point decline ever (but not the worst percentage decline ever), CNNMoney.com reported Friday. As of Thursday's market close, the S&P 500 had fallen 204.8 points this month. Meanwhile, the Dow had dropped 1,669 points, or 15%, as of Thursday's close.

And what were the worst percentage declines ever for S&P 500? You guessed it: the worst occurred during the Great Depression, two years after the stock market crash in 1929: in September 1931, the S&P fell an ugly 29.94%, CNNMoney.com reported.

The second-worst percentage decline? October 1987, when the Black Monday crash occurred: the S&P plunged 21.76%, CNNMoney.com reported.

Global stock markets hammered, as well

Further, this October will also go down in history as one of the worst months for foreign stock markets. The October swoon has added to what can only be diplomatically described as a difficult year for foreign stocks. So far this year, several foreign markets have recorded losses greater than 30%, and many are at multi-year lows, FT.com reported Friday. The Japanese, South Korean and Hong Kong stock markets have all lost half their value this year. European stock markets are down 45% in 2008, including a stunning 40% decline in the U.K.'s FTSE 100, known as the "Footsie 100."