The stock market had a strong start and another terrible finish and closed at
the lows for the day going away with steep losses across the board in a very
disappointing session, to say the least. The lows were taken out on the Nasdaq
100, while the S&P 500 hasn't quite done that yet though will likely be
testing the lows early tomorrow.
The day started out with a move up, but then a quick sell-off took place.
They stabilized late in the morning, went sideways, tried to break out on the
NDX, actually did briefly but couldn't confirm on the SPX and rolled over and
sold off for the rest of the session. Late in the day they tried a bounce for
about 10-15 minutes that failed to follow through, and they rolled over into the
close, ending, as mentioned, at the lows for the day going away.
Net on the day the Dow was down 280, the S&P 500 down 43 1/4, and the
Nasdaq 100 a whopping 41.40. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was
down 11.55, or nearly 4 percent today.
The technicals were extremely negative, almost climactic in nature.
Advance-declines were nearly 2800 down and less than 400 up on New York, or
about a 7 to 1 negative ratio, and 23 down to 5 up on Nasdaq, or about a 5 1/2
to 1 negative ratio. Up/down volume was more than 10 to 1 negative on New York
on total volume of 1 2/3 billion. Nasdaq traded nearly 2 2/3 billion and had a
negative ratio of about 14 to 1 .
TheTechTrader.com board was very mixed, with many multiple-point losses.
Leading the way to the downside was Energy Conversion Devices (ENER), which got
slam-dunked for 8.86, closing at 53.05, not far off the low. That stock is now
down 30 points in the last 8 trading days.
Shippers took it on the chin today, with DryShips (DRYS) down 5.93 and Excel
Maritime (EXM) 4.52. Solars sold off as well, with Canadian Solar (CSIQ) closing
at 21.34, down 5.27. JA Solar (JASO) got hammered back down 12.08, down 2.47,
and Solarfun (SOLF) at 11.60 was down 1.82.
Among other losing issues, Vision China Media (VISN) at 15.10 was down 2.86,
Fuel System Solutions (FSYS) at 46.49 was down 2.85, Focus Media (FMCN) at 25.82
was down 1.94, and A-Power Energy (APWR) at 14.67 fell 1.93.
But the financials got the worst of it today, with Lehman (LEH) getting
hammered, rallying back sharply and then falling to even lower lows, closing at
7.79, down 6.36 on 377 million shares, more than a third of a billion traded on
Lehman. Mortgage company ABK closed at 7, down 1.82, and Washington Mutual (WM)
at 3.30 was down 82 cents.
On the plus side, Cardica (CRDC), one of our old favorites, jumped 2.06 on
1.9 million, closing at 10.05, on approval of one of its drugs by the FDA. Chart
of the Week Converted Organics (COIN) had an excellent day, closing up 42 cents
to 6.40, showing excellent relative strength on a day like this.
The DUG had one of its best days of the year, up 5.57 to 46.29 on the sharp
drop in oil. The SDS short instrument was up 4.19 and the QID up 1.57.
Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, it was a very negative
session for the indices, as key short-term support was broken on the Nasdaq 100,
but the Dow and S&P 500, despite not making new lows, suffered steep losses
as well.
So we'll see if this continues tomorrow. We are getting into oversold
territory on the NDX, but the blue chip indices appear to have room to drop
further and we may have another day or two on the downside before we can get a
substantial snapback rally.
