Cheat Sheet

A day after reaching its highest close in a month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 242 points today. The slump comes on the heels of bleak forecasts from FedEx, which predicted that its full fiscal year earnings will be disappointing, and Texas Instruments, which slashed its quarterly outlook. FedEx is widely seen as a bellwether for the economy as a whole and the reaction to TI, a computer chip manufacturer, reflected Wall Street's concern over a weakening demand for chips. As the Dow sank, demand for Treasury bills spiked as it auctioned off 430 billion in four-week bills at a rate of zero percent. "The bond market is doing a much better job than stocks right now of telling you about the risks that are out there," said Thomas H. Attenberry, a partner at First Pacific Advisors, an investment-management firm in Los Angeles. "Risk is beginning to look cheap, but not in the stock market."