Panic has a firm grip on stocks

Just another in one of those unbelievable days for US stocks. Bigchart graph on the right show it all. Stocks opened down 700, then broke into the green now heading south once again trying to make it 8 straight loser days. No point dragging out all those boring statistics, they tell the same dreary story. However, gold pulled back to little changed.

There is not a shortage of glum news out there. Central bankers are having a tough time once again trying to figure out what coordinated means. Morgan Stanley (MS) & Goldman Sachs (GS), down 38% & 16% respectively, are facing downgrades (not helpful to the markets). If they have to sell, they've got a lot of stock to sell. General Electric (GE) released not very pretty earnings (as expected), hanging in there at 19 with a 6½% yield.

Below are my recent articles at SeekingAlpha:

• MLPs Still Attractive After Recent Selloff on Oct 08, 2008 about EPD, EEP, BPL
• Attractive Outlook for MLPs Following September Lows
  on Oct 02, 2008 about BBEP, CEP, BPL
• Buying Gold: What is High and What is Low?
  on Sep 24, 2008 about GLD
• Why Buy Real Estate Investment Trusts?
  on Sep 18, 2008
• Why Buy MLPs? Part II
  on Sep 17, 2008 about XOM
• Why Buy High Yield Bond Funds?
  on Sep 15, 2008 about HYG, JNK, PHB
• Why Buy MLPs?

With stocks on defense in the last hour, they may continue to sell off. Of course, shorts may get tired & have to buy back before going home in front of the weekend. This looks like it will be one of the worst weeks ever! Sadly, as I've said before, the bleeding does not look like it wants to stop.