All the world loves a clown, wrote Cole Porter.

But you had to wonder what people were thinking yesterday when a harlequin in full regalia from the Big Apple Circus showed up at the New York Stock Exchange to ring the opening bell.

Now, we enjoy a good laugh in the face of adversity, but given the wild roller coaster that the markets have been riding for the past few weeks, maybe having Bozo open the NYSE wasn’t the most appropriate choice.

In the end, yesterday was a day like just about all the others on Wall Street.

The Dow was down almost 400 points, then rallied back to a deficit of 150, before ending the day with a drop of nearly 338.

Just another painful day, in other words.

Actually, when you think about it, maybe sending in the clowns wasn’t such a bad idea, after all.

It’s not like anyone really understands what’s happening on Wall Street.

Besides, as Groucho Marx (who lost everything he had in the 1929 crash) once said, “Clowns work as well as aspirin – but twice as fast.”