Another down day for stocks

Dow slipped 16,decliners over advancers by 20% & NAZ was down 16 (70 from its peak a couple of days ago). Banks were down & the Financial Index is off 12 from its peak this week.

S&P 500 FINANCIALS INDEX

Value 196.58

Change -2.15

% Change -1.1%

MLPs keep trying to break thru to new highs, but can't. The chart below how well the 250 line has held for the Alerian MLP Index over the last 2 weeks. Today the Index is up change, still in the 247s. The Dow Jones REIT Index peaked just over 180 & that has held. The Index is up change but off 15 from that peak. MLPs have been a market leader in the rally until early Aug & REITs have been leaders in Q3. Both have been turned back from additional advances, maybe that's a signal for the rest of the market which is so EXTREMELY overbought.


Alerian MLP Index --- 2 weeks




Dow Jones REIT Index --- 2 weeks





In way of contrast, junk bonds have held onto their enormous gains. Barclays High Yield Bond ETF hit new yearly highs but has not had to pull back in recent days. If MLPs & REITs get more selling pressure, it may spread to junk bond funds. Meanwhile, risk averse has returned, even only to a mild degree. The Yield on the 10-year Treasury bond fell 4 basis points to 3.35%


Barclays Capital High Yield Bond ETF - 2 weeks




10-Year Treasury Yield Index - 2 weeks




Oil was little changed, up pennies to 66, while gold was off 7 to 990.


Group of 20 leaders said they will crack down on risk-taking by banks and better align economic policies as they turned from crisis management to delivering a new set of rules for the world economy. This is a quote from Bloomberg's website, summarizing the meetings in Pittsburgh. The key words highlighted don't really mean what they say. It's always difficult to get 20 different countries with different agendas to coordinate anything, let alone economic policies. But it sounds good!

G-20 to Curb Banker Pay, Coordinate Policy

Shanda Games (SNDA) sold stock, its U.S. initial public offering. The IPO was priced at 12½ the top of its estimate range in the first $B new stock offering in the US since Apr 2008. It closed at a dismal 10.90, down 1.60 & sinking fast.

Shanda Game --- 1 day





Dow finally had a week where it finished on a down not. Next week, Q3 ends followed by the infamous Oct.

Dow Jones Industrials --- 2 weeks