While You Were Away: Nikkei DOWN almost 5%

This news will bring the economy front and center this week.

Yesterday, Dow dropped 370 Points, that's a 2.9% drop.

Overnight, while we were glued to charts and graphs of the Feb 5th, the Nikkei 225 index dropped by 4.7% to just above 13000.

These drops were directly attributed to the drastic drop in the ISM's service sector index.

The reason for the drop was best stated in WSJ:

Yesterday, the Institute for Supply Management said its index of nonmanufacturing business activity, which is based on a survey of purchasing managers in service industries, fell to 41.9 in January from 54.4 in December. That was the sharpest decline in the survey's 10-year history. (A reading below 50 indicates the industries are shrinking.)

I believe that with most voters, especially in the coming weeks, the economy will be even more of an issue than it was today.

The economic conditions in this country will continue to worsen throughout the rest of the year (A very fitting final, departing gift from W to the rest of us).

The question is, which of the Democratic candidates can better address this all important issue.

So far, this has been Senator Clinton's strength.

I wonder if Senator Obama will be able to steal her thunder.  After all, he was endorsed by Paul Volcker (IMHO, by far the most important endorsement he has received so far.  And typically, the one that has received the least attention).