carnage on halaal street today.:)

I am not a finance guy. However, I am trying to be more knowledgeable about it by listening to CNBC and trying to comprehend,recapitulate, and paraphrase(not copy and paste)the nuances. It can be full of bloopers.

It was a bad day for the market with a loss of 900 plus points. The dampeners can be prevelance of STT and higher short-term capital gains tax. Global cues remain disappointing. The banking sector took the beating as well after assurances of refund of farm loans. The recession worries are still persisting but there are speculations that the US market could rebound in Q3CY08. The post-budget wishlist is very much there and the FM is clarifying that it is not a case of 'Heads I win and tails you lose!'. Chidambaram has defended his budgetary loan waivers by citing the examples of legendary Rajaji in the late 30s and later of Janardan Pujari who fought for similar causes.
Many Maharashtrian farmers are not happy with the 5 acres ceiling and are saying that it is a case of too little too late.
On the other fronts there is news of maverick moves of maverick Branson's Virgin Atlantis and Tata group JV in telecom domain. It is now under DoT scanner. I could not comprehend the reason behind the glitch.
Vodafone too is involved in a litigation over tax related issues with the tax department. This appeared a bit nebulous too to my comprehension.
The tax holidays have not yet been extended to STPI's. This can lead to STPI's spaces being utilized by non-IT companies and will impact metros or mini-metros like NCR, Hyderabad, Pune or Bangalore.
Warren Buffet speaks on CNBC and is now candid about US recession. The motown is not happy as it finds that very little has been done to larger cars and small car segment is getting the advantage. Small wonders Maruti was the sole gainer with other auto scrips feeling the heat today.

I hope my efforts to learn a bit about finance were not a debacle!:)