Today was all about international turmoil, hands down. Unrest is becoming civil war in Libya and turmoil in North Africa continues to rock headlines. Housing prices also showed yet another drop, something to be expected. This was the worst day in the markets in quite some time. Oil rallied sharply and gold rose on the panic trade.

Here were today's closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 12,207.15 -184.10 (-1.49%)
S&P 500 1,315.44 -27.57 (-2.05%)
Nasdaq 2,756.42 -77.53 (-2.74%)

Top analyst upgrades/downgrades

U.S. stock futures are lower, this morning as investors are awaiting economic data. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average are down 10 points to 11,029.00, while those for the S&P 500 are down 0.60 point to 1,185.90. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index lost 1.50 points to 2,144.00.

U.S. stock markets closed lower yesterday, with the Dow losing 0.36%.

Economic data on Case-Shiller home prices for September and the Chicago PMI index for November business activity are due at 9:00 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. ET, respectively. The Conference Board is set to release November consumer-confidence data at 10 a.m. ET.

"While watching the Olympics, I couldn't thinking about the investment opportunities of the various countries participating in the games," says exchange-traded fund expert Carl Delfeld.

Recognizing that this is not a "scientific" approach nor a primary basis for seriously determining one's asset allocation the editor of Around the World with ETFs speculates, "While it is admittedly a stretch, let's consider what an ETF porfolio of the top ten countries in the Beijing Olympics medal count would look like."

"I hope that while watching the Olympic games many investors were also reminded at how the world is changing and why they need a global portfolio to capture value and growth around the world.

"The U.S. did remarkably well across the board underscoring its role as the world's leading investment destination. China surged to win the most gold and reach the symbolic level of 100 medals.

"Quite an achievement that punctuates China's growing heft. With the Shanghai Composite down 55% this year, it has come down to earth and is interesting from a valuation perspective.

"Next comes Russia with a performance fueled by a strong Olympian tradition and petro dollars but perhaps a bit overshadowed by the Georgian fiasco. I will take a pass on this one even though it is off 36% since just May.