CNBC resorts to tape as world financial markets sink

Financial reporters are still buzzing about it.

Television news folks, noted for rolling pronto to a disaster scene, were snoozing at business news channel CNBC on Monday as global financial markets sank and the “R” (for recession) word was sprinkled in radio newscasts and on other TV networks, notes Grumpy Editor.

CNBC, a sister operation of NBC and part of the General Electric Co. family, shut down live coverage in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday.

But news, business or otherwise, never stops.

Upstart competitor Fox Business Network was the only financial news channel “live” during the day.

Grizzly CNBC, meanwhile, went to tape, including Detroit Auto Show material, American Greed and Ultimate Fighting.  It capped the broadcast day with paid programming.

Worried small and large investors and others in the financial community had heard about markets around the world plunging while the U.S. markets, including the New York Stock Exchange, were closed Monday for the national holiday.  Futures markets were indicating a major plunge in U.S. stocks on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, despite the holiday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was at his desk Monday reviewing worldwide financial developments and later helmed a videoconference with members of the Federal Open Market Committee.

This was a leading indicator, that perhaps CNBC could have caught, that led to the surprise three-quarter percentage point cut in the Fed funds rate announced Tuesday morning.