From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

The stock market sell-off. Is it easing up? Or just beginning?

Hello again, I'm Aronalny, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International. A daily look at the issues, Americans care about most. After yesterday's partial recovery, international financial markets dropped again today. But not as drastically as they did on Tuesday. In the U.S., the world's largest economy, various measures sent mixed messages as analysts tried to figure out what's going on. On to the point,

is there a slowing economy or just a bump in the road? On the second half of our program,

homosexuality is an issue in churches, in local politics, and in presidential elections. We'll

discuss the controversy over claims that gays can go straight, presuming

they want to. First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John

D and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation. Hello again, Waman Ali, back with To the Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. McArthur

Foundation. Hello again. Women-Ali, back with To the Point. Wall Street is cutting its losses after another

steep sell-off. On To the Point, there are mixed messages about the state of the economy. What does

China's stock market have to do with it? Later on, Pastor Ted Haggard has renewed a long-running

controversy with implications for religion and politics.

Is homosexuality a treatable condition? Is it nurture or nature?

First this news update, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 200 points in the first minutes of trading today.

Since then, it and other indexes have been creeping back up.

Will Andrews is investment editor at businessweek.com. Well, good to have you with us. Thanks for having me,

Warren. A couple of hours of trading are left. Where do you think it's all going to end up at the

end of the day? Well, we've seen the three major equity indexes go into positive territory. I mean,

very modestly positive territory, but I think for equity indexes go into positive territory. I mean, very modestly positive territory, but I think for equity investors, stock investors, that's a pretty good sign of stabilization after the

marked volatility we've seen over the past couple of days. Certainly people, especially people who

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