Reply #53: 10:59 numbers and blather

[ozymandius]

Dow 12,710.68 Down 142.41 (1.11%)
Nasdaq 2,462.61 Down 25.91 (1.04%)
S&P 500 1,413.16 Down 7.17 (0.50%)
10-Yr Bond 3.842% Down 0.045
NYSE Volume 1,283,065,625
Nasdaq Volume 611,366,375

10:30 am : The stock market falls to fresh session lows before recovery a bit. Former Chicago Fed President Moskow said Fed "clearly" has to understand risk are on growth side, not inflation side, according to Reuters.

There are a few financial companies outperforming this morning despite credit concerns and overall weakness within the financial sector (-1.2%) and the 7.4% drop in consumer finance. Bear Stearns (BSC 79.99, +2.56) is trading higher after being upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch. Struggling bond insurer MBIA (MBI 15.75, +1.64) is trading higher on news that Third Avenue Management disclosed a 10.98% stake in the company and that Citigroup believes the company's capital plan should satisfy Fitch Ratings.

Washington Mutual (WM 14.51, +0.35) is catching a bid after CNBC reported that the company is in very preliminary talks to merge with JPMorgan Chase (JPM 40.70, -0.63).DJ30 -165.50 NASDAQ -13.96 SP500 -29.01 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1851/754/338 mln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 2048/764/200 mln

10:00 am : Stocks give up yesterday's gains as all ten sectors trade in negative territory.

Consumer discretionary (-1.6%) is leading the way lower. Telecom (-1.3%) is also a laggard with AT&T (T 38.50, -0.90) acting as the main drag. The company faces a possible unpaid wage and overtime call action lawsuit, according to Dow Jones.

Healthcare (-0.1%) and energy (-0.4%) are outperforming on a relative basis.DJ30 -144.85 NASDAQ -22.31 SP500 -11.83 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 1705/682/137 mln