Stocks traded up by 5% to 10% across Asia and Europe.

The Hang Seng was up 9.5%. The Shanghai Composite rose 3.7%.

Shortly after the open in Europe, The UK FTSE rose 5.6%. The German DAX was up 6.2%, and the French CAC 40 moved higher by 6.7%.

Date from Reuters.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Following the Dow and the NASDAQ here in the Americas, European and Asian markets almost unilaterally lost any previous gains, as the major indexes all fell. Both Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke were both being pitched in the media as potentially saying the credit market losses were hurting the U.S. economy. As a result, the U.S. dollar was at a record low against the euro.

If it's not one thing with the U.S. economy, it's another, when it comes to the complete mess the mortgage overextension problem has created. Said Roberto Mialish from Unicredit Markets & Investment Banking: "The markets are reacting negatively to the renewed credit crisis in the U.S. and that's hurting the dollar across the board ... the market is speculating that Bernanke will offer a gloomy outlook for the U.S. economy.''

Below is a foreign market review for this morning:

European markets:

• The Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Pr: at 3,132.37, down 83.87 (-2.61%)
• The FTSE 100 Index: at 5,173.10, down 127.30 (-2.40%)
• The DAX 30: at 6,049.42, down 150.83 (-2.43%)
• The S&P/MIB Index: at 27,059.00, down 689.00 (-2.48%)

Asia/Pacific markets:

• Nikkei 225 Average: closed at 12,754.56, down 255.60 (-1.96%)
  
• The S&P/ASX 200 Index: closed at 4,815.70, down 105.30 (-2.14%)
  
• Hang Seng Index: closed at 21,174.77, down 839.69 (-3.81%)

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is in free fall yet again, plunging more than 250 points as investors panicked at the sight of a $39 billion loss from General Motors (NYSE: GM), another record low for the dollar, record prices for gold and skyrocketing oil prices.

In early trading, the Dow is down 114.04 to 13,546.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 23.32 to 2,801.86 and the S&P 500 tumbled 13.37 to 1,506.90.

Boston Company Asset Management Larry Peruzzi told The Wall Street Journal that the market is moving on "a lot of negative news that was overlooked and ignored yesterday." Short-term thinking is ruling the day. We're talking hours, not days.

Gosh, wasn't the recent Fed rate cut supposed to boost investors' confidence? Unfortunately, that's already yesterday's news. The problem with rate cuts is that one leads to another and another and another.

Six years ago, Osama Bin Laden killed thousands in the heart of the world's financial capital, hoping to bring capitalism to its knees. He failed miserably.

Not only did the world's financial markets rebound, they rebounded spectacularly. The Dow Jones Industrial Average now is above 13,000, about 40% higher than where it was on September 9, 2001. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index last traded at more than 2581, more than 50% higher than where it was six years ago. That's the power of American capitalism. In fact, my colleague Zac Bissonnette points out that international crises make good buying opportunities for investors.

9-11 couldn't kill The American Dream. Millions of people come to the United States every year in the hopes of bettering their lives in a country where people who take prudent risks can reap rewards. People figure that with a little hard work and luck they might become the next Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. It's that faith in the future that draws people to the stock market. People say they invest in the stock market to prepare for retirement, but really they are hoping that they can strike it rich, even if it's on a small scale.

There are many stories of heroism from 9-11. Mine isn't one of them. I spent the better part of the day in the New York City bureau of Bloomberg News, which thankfully was far away from the carnage of Ground Zero, trying to figure out how I was going to get out of Manhattan. Somehow, I got on to what I think was one of the first NJ Transit trains that left the city that day much to the relief of my family.

For New Yorkers such as my colleague Valerie Russo, who was a school teacher at the time, the day was even more harrowing. Georges Yared was in London at the time and has an interesting perspective as does Michael Fowlkes, who was working as a stock trader. It is a day that the American people will never and should never forget.

If there's one thing that irritates me as I navigate through commentary regarding business and the markets, it is the inevitable recurrence of one particularly inane statement about public companies: "They don't care about anybody but the shareholders."

Excuse me for being so blunt, but that is a silly and nearly worthless statement. You may get upset with my position on the matter, but it is what it is and I can tell you why.

First: If your job provides some manner of retirement plan options, then the odds are overwhelming that you yourself are a shareholder through a 401 (k) plan. If you have some manner of IRA, the same idea applies.

Second: If you really feel that a particular company is tilted toward shareholders, then that behooves you to buy shares in that company so you can become one of those overly benefited stockholders. Once you have become a shareholder, then the company you loathe can begin serving you too.

Third: If we were to assume that all companies do indeed operate in the greatest interest of shareholders, then what would actually be the harm in that? They would seek to increase marketshare, reduce costs, increase profits and return those profits to the public via stock buybacks and dividends. Forgive me if I have a thick skull,but I fail to see the problem with that.

Now, if you wish to claim that a company is poorly run, unprofitable, unresponsive to its clientele or running flat, I can get behind comments like those. If you tell me that a company is doing things illegally, making substandard products or leaving too much profit in the hands of its executives, those matters I will be happy to discuss.

But, if you come to me to say that a well run and profitable company is to be chastised because it is too much in tune with the desires of shareholders, I have a considerable problem getting in sync with that.

All I can say is when your displeasure with a company rests in the fact that its stock is performing well, please just buy some shares, sit back with your favorite beverage and try to enjoy the problem. Honestly, more of us deserve to have problems like that.