While a huge number of shoppers gave up hours of sleep last Friday to hit the ground running (one report tells of an early-riser who was in such a hurry to get to the mall that he wiped out a fire hydrant and a tree in his very own driveway), the market turned what should have been a snoozer of a trading day into a virtual rollercoaster ride.

News that Dubai, the largest (in population) of the United Arab Emirates, got way ahead of itself in terms of leverage sent the Dow (at one point) down more than 200 points. The announcement that Dubai World (the emirate