MarketWatch: Another Day of Grisly Losses

[marmar]

U.S. stocks sink again in face of heightened worries
S&P 500 closes in bear market turf as anxiety reigns about results ahead
By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch



NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks crumpled Wednesday, with the S&P 500 closing in bear market territory, as financial and technology stocks took it on the chin in the face of escalating fears about the impact of the slowing economy and credit crunch on coming earnings reports.

Shares of technology bellwether Cisco Systems Inc. slid to a new 52-week low as analysts raised questions about the high-tech giant's upcoming quarter on concerns that businesses would cut spending on technology. Read full story.

"Concerns about Cisco's future management hierarchy also weighed, as did unkind words from Fitch on a potential Merrill downgrade," said analysts at Action Economics.

The slide halted a failed attempt by blue chips to extend the Dow industrials' biggest one-day jump in nearly a month, with a mild rise in oil prices and worry about the impact of the credit crunch on the financial sector also curbing enthusiasm for equities.

"Most of the attention is going to be on earnings, and the earnings of financials," said Hugh Johnson, chairman of Johnson Illington Advisors. "We'll get those as well as earnings from technology next week."

The major indexes finished at or near session lows.

Off 21.3% from its Oct high, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 236.77 points, or 2.1%, to 11,147.44, with all but three of its 30 components ending in the red, with Intel Corp., off 5.3% and American Express Co. off 5.7%.

Alcoa Inc., among the stocks to offer limited support much of the day, lost steam along with the broader market. The aluminum producer's stock off 2.4% by the finish, on the heels of Alcoa's earnings report late Tuesday. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/us-stocks-fall-bear-market-turf/story.aspx?guid=%7B81EF2BA5%2D787A%2D4552%2DB3FD%2DE413F1006A8B%7D

[colorado thinker]

1. If the telecom stocks go up tomorrow

and it's related to this FISA vote, I'm leaving the country, I swear to god. damn it.