Dow Jones 9,899.25 -40.73 -0.41%
NASDAQ 2,158.85 -11.72 -0.54%
S&P 500 1,055.65 -6.35 -0.60%
Sure enough, the market turned shortly after mid-day and tanked. It was thin volume through the day in most stocks and ETFs, and the thin ice melted under pressure. People just selling into rallies, no surprise, though the bulls held the market up as long as they could.
I entered VXX late at 31.11, sold for a small loss at 30.80 and watched it climb up over 31 again. Re-entered before the bell at 31.33 and will probably hold overnight. The bulls had their chance and gave the ball back to the bears. Bernanke's positive comments about the state of the economy had a life span of about 2 hours before they dissipated into thin air. So we topped short term as I suspected.
Watching AAPL sink to 245, 244, 243 ... it's a quiet stretch now that iPhone G4 is out. The critics are having their say about the closed system. Par for the course. Euro, euro, euro. As long as there's a major issue in the global economy, AAPL gets hit indirectly sooner or later. Much as I love my Apple computers, so glad to be not married to the stock.
I mentioned earlier that one sign of a top is when broke-ass penny stocks like BBI (Blockbuster Video) are among the percentage leaders. BBI has $1 billion of debt. That's right, BBI is the crackhead of all retail, barely worth more than a quarter per share and carrying that kind of debt. Yet, BBI closed at 0.29, up 4.61%. Instead of limping through the finish line, shares finished fairly strong.
Another penny, HAUP, finished at 2.16, up 1.89% and off its high of 2.27.
Earlier, nat gas plays were en fuego with 38 of 39 on my list in the green. By the close, only 12 of the 39 were positive. KOG led with a 2.92% gain (3.17) and MMR finished up 2.06% at 10.42. UNG was close to the bottom with a 2.44% loss (7.98).
NFLX closed up 4.51% at 115.31, more than 2 bucks off its intraday high. This is one of the more sporadic stocks and I just can't get into it as long as the competition gets stronger and stronger. I supposed the same could be said of Apple, but Apple isn't a one-horse wagon.
Financials did OK until late in the day. C closed up 4.03% at 3.87, but GS dropped 0.71% to 136.80 and FAS finished -2.04% to 20.64. FAZ closed up 2.17% at 16.91. Haven't traded FAZ or any finnies in ages.
STD gave up most of its gains and closed at 8.99 (+0.45%).
GLD (-0.37%), TLT (-0.11%), UUP (-0.39%) were flat. Euro finished up (FXE +0.34%) just slightly. Unusual combination, but overall these issues were flat.
BP closed near its low at 29.20 (-15.8%) after a horrendous loss today. BIDU (-4.38%), IMAX (-4.02%) and AAPL (-2.59%) also lost chunks of market cap today. F (11.05, -1.52%) and GOOG (474.34 -2.15%) also casualties despite their recent good news.
