Stocks are singing the bear market blues again this morning after the Bank of England shuffled sentiment with a dominant turnaround. Fearing a breakdown in market stability, the central bank on Wednesday promised to buy long-dated bonds "on whatever scale is necessary," sending the yields down by a full percentage point in the span of just a few hours. The chorus quickly spread across the Atlantic, with U.S. debt echoing similar moves, as the 10-year Treasury yield fell to 3.71% for its largest one-day decline since March 2009.

The IPO market may be essentially closed in current investing environment, but one company still appears to be driving at its finest. Porsche AG advanced 3% to €85/share during its first trading session in Frankfurt, after parent Volkswagen AG set the final price for the sports-car maker at the top end of its marketed range. The listing values Porsche at some €75B, making it Europe's largest initial public offering in a decade despite many challenging market conditions.

Initial filings for unemployment claims fell last week to their lowest level in five months, a sign that the labor market is strengthening even as the Federal Reserve is trying to slow things down. Jobless claims for the week ended Sept. 24 totaled 193,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week’s downwardly revised total and below estimates, according to a Labor Department report this morning.