Just like I said on the other thread, it doesn’t matter what the market share is, because this mess is having a real effect on the global markets.
But that is market psychology working to clear out the lending excesses, and nervousness about how some of the banks and hedge funds that aggressively invested in these products are now feeling the pain.
The markets are punishing people for bad economic/financial decisions, just as they are supposed to. Corporate earnings for most sectors, job growth, personal income statistics, are all in good shape.
It is having an effect because rich individuals who gambled in hedge funds that went bust are screaming to cause panic in the markets in order to pressure the US government to bail them out. I say to the public keep calm because these rich individuals will go bankrupt and other rich individuals who did not play in the hedge funds will buy out their assets. Everything will re-adjust and life will go on. This is the time to put a little into the stock market indice funds a nibble at a time as the market drops to the bottom. Five years from now when the credit bubble resolves itself and disappears into the past, your investments will rebound substantially. The losses by wealthy individuals and investment banks are substantial, but it will not trigger an economic collapse like the one in 1929. When rich people and major institutions make dumb mistakes, they always try to panic the public and pressure the government to bail them out. Keep calm, buy low so you can in the future sell high.