Okay, I know. I know. We have an issue of PlaneBusiness Banter to get out this week. But frankly, I am more interested in what is going in the markets today.

If you want to see a fight to the death — just check in on what is happening to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The markets opened with a sharp decline, then went back up, then down again. Then up, then down, then back up in positive territory, then down again. About 100 points down the last time we looked.

About the only good news that is a result of all this upheaval — the price of oil continues to decline, as markets assume the end result of all this is going to be a slowing in demand for energy products. Not so sure of that — especially in light of the fact the International Energy Agency said Friday that it is holding to its original 2007 and 2008 oil demand forecasts, as a surge of demand from Japan has apparently offset downward revisions from China and the former Soviet Union.

But what the hey. We’ll take any reduction in the price of oil we can get. As of this posting, oil is trading at about 70.78/barrel.

On the not-so-good side of this market upheaval, a morsel for your consideration. If the credit crunch continues to take no prisoners, as I think it is going to do — this could have an affect on the airline industry in another way. It could dry up financing resources available to invest in any mergers or deals that, just six months ago, would have been an easy thing to pull off.

On that note, we’ve got to get back to work.

Talk to you later.

Technorati Tags: airlines, wall street