More significantly than the Fed Funds action, the Fed did not touch the discount rate. The Fed's actions have little real consequence to the markets. The Fed is always a laggard, reacting to changes in the market place. The Fed just tries to not get caught too far out of line. Russia can t organize a flea market.
Brazil is broken.
Hedge fund Long Term Capital Management is but one casualty with many more to come. The G-7 is starting to panic. Yet the situation has worsened. Indeed, the case can be made that past IMF lendings have directly caused the current crisis, by allowing the recipients to avoid resolving their difficulties when they were small. Now, they ve managed to parlay their problems into a global crisis.