*Markets tumble on nuclear plant comment

Everybody is on edge and it doesn't take much to escalate the fears. The European Union's energy chief said today that the nuclear power plant in Japan is "effectively out of control" (whatever that means) and he warned of "possible catastrophic events" (whatever that means). Once his comments moved across the wires the market took a nosedive. From the WSJ:

"We were slightly negative in the stock market, but it wasn't the end of the world. And then an energy expert or official in the EU says, 'Hey, the situation in Japan is out of control,'" Jeffrey Friedman, senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock, a division of MF Global. "I thought it was a bad way to go: A guy in Europe saying it's out of control with no specifics. Everybody's kind of nervous, we're not getting enough specific information out of Japan, and then this guy comes out with a statement, how do you take it? 'Out of control' from what--two days ago, four days ago, a development in the last 15 minutes?"

Adding to the concern were comments today by Emperor Akihito of Japan, who said he was "deeply worried" about the ongoing nuclear crisis. Since the information from Japan is so muddled or contradictory, the financial markets are jumping on most anything bad. At last check the Dow was down almost 150 points.

*This explains a lot about what's going on. From the NYT:

Postwar Japan flourished under a system in which political leaders left much of its foreign policy to the United States and its handling of domestic affairs to powerful bureaucrats. Prominent companies operated with an extensive reach into personal lives; their executives were admired for their role as corporate citizens. But over the past decade or so, the bureaucrats' authority has been eviscerated, and corporations have lost both power and swagger as the economy has floundered. Yet no strong political class has emerged to take their place. Four prime ministers have come and gone in less than four years; most political analysts had already written off the fifth, Naoto Kan, even before the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.

**Updated: The EU Energy Commissioner has denied his earlier comments, saying that he fears a catastrophe, not that he expects one. Big diff.