by Calculated Risk on 10/24/2008 09:14:00 AM

From MarketWatch: S&P 500 futures contract triggers circuit breaker

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange's circuit-breaker rules went into effect Friday as plunging S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures contracts reached pre-specified limits.

The CME limits the S&P 500 futures to a drop of a 60 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures to a drop of 85 points during electronic action.

This follows a night of cliff diving in Asia and Europe.

As an example, the FTSE 100 is off 8.3% as the U.K. economy contracts:

The Office for National Statistics said Friday that the economy contracted a far-bigger-than-expected 0.5% in the third quarter, compared with zero growth in the second quarter. It is the first time the economy has contracted since the second quarter of 1992 and the biggest drop since the fourth quarter of 1990.

Should be an interesting day ...