Stocks tumbled on worries that Lehman (LEH) was in trouble which might require borrowing from the FED. These are just rumors, but that's good enough to cause a sell-off late in the day. Dow was down 100 (down 235 in 2 days), decliners over advancers 3-2 & NAZ was down 11. Lehman, down 3.22, got the major attention late in the day with major worries about their financial health. If worries play out in the ugliest fashion, this could be another Bear Stearns situation requiring FED help to prop up the markets. Another new credit crunch worry is about credit cards. There is nervousness that aggressive use of credit cards will lead to more credit crunch problems down the road. Consumers are borrowing more while delinquencies are on the rise. MasterCard (MA) was down 12.60, but VISA (V) took the worries better, up 1.49. Meanwhile oil dropped 3.45 to 124.31. The FED's prediction what there will be no more rate cuts this year caused the dollar to rise against other currencies, a negative for oil. Energies were weak & even MLPs, recently strong, pulled back a point to 294.
Tough times will be continued in tomorrow's markets!
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