Stock markets in the United States closed out their worst initial 5 day performance in history to open 2016 (archived). The Dow Jones Industrial average after going up 137 points to recover some losses from earlier in the week closed down 167. The collapsing price of US stocks follows China's extreme measures,  oil struggling to stay above 30 United States dollars a barrel, and a year in which a 5% loss in value made lead the highest performing metal of the year. It appears the stock market Ponzi is beginning to deflate following bouts of pronounced pain last year, and further suggests diminishing actual economic activity in these fiat markets. For what it's worth the publicly reported prices of Bitcoin at various fiat/Bitcoin interfaces is up marginally this week over the end of 2015.