US world markets jittery

Stock markets around the world seemed jittery yesterday: The Dow Jones industrials dropped briefly below 10,000 before making up most of their loss. Since a recent high in April, the Dow has dropped nearly 12 percent. What does this number indicate about our economy? Is the market the end-all-be-all measurement of how our economy is doing?

Mark Zandi, co-founder and chief economist of Moody’s believes, “the most important economic indicator is jobs. If we’re creating jobs that’s a plus. In recent months we’ve had job growth.” We also hear from Simon Johnson, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, and a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He takes a look at how the fledgling European markets are affecting our own.