Bad Day at Black Rock, Dow Down 268

Markets suffered one of their worst days since the financial meltdown. Dow sold off from the start & kept sinking during the day to close at the lows. Dow plunged 268 (like the good old days one year ago), decliners over advancers a very big 7-1 & NAZ was down 65 (3%). Banks had one ugly day, especially after the BAC news (see below). When the Financial Index drops 5 it's bad & 10 is just awful. It almost made the latter point today.


S&P 500 FINANCIALS INDEX

Value 185.48

Change -8.03

% Change -4.2%

This is just one of those bad days for everybody, including the high yielders. The Alerian MLP Index dropped 9¼ to the 280s taking the index back to mid Dec. The Dow Jones REIT Index fell 6½ back to levels not seen since Sep. Junk bond funds also saw selling but weren't hammered so hard. Treasuries rocketed ahead, the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond fell 9 basis points to 3.61%.

AlerianMLP Index --- 6 months




Dow Jones REIT Index --- 6 months





Commodities also saw their share of sellers as oil & gold each had their worst days in months. The looming jobs report tomorrow is spooking everybody.

CLH10.NYM

..Crude Oil Mar 10

..72.99

.. 3.99 ......(5.2%)

GCG10.CMX

..Gold Feb 10

..1,063.50

.. 47.90 ......(4.3%)

The NY AG filed civil charges against Bank of America (BAC), a Dow stock, & its former CEO, Ken Lewis, saying the bank misled investors about Merrill Lynch before it acquired ML in 2009. Uh oh!! Civil charges were also filed against Joe Price, the CFO at the time of the deal & now head of BAC's consumer banking division. At the same time, the SEC reached a settlement to resolve separate federal charges it brought against the bank over similar issues. It's the 2nd time the SEC & BAC have tried to settle the case. The stock was down 78¢ (5%).

•Lewis, Bank of America Sued by Cuomo for Fraud as SEC Settlement Reached


Bank of America --- 2 years









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This ranks as a horrible day, markets were supposed to be moving ahead after digesting earnings reports. That didn't happen. The jobs report is bothering many, but even a relatively favorable one is not going to solve problems. In particular NAZ, which was red hot all last year, is back to where it was in Oct. Something is fundamentally wrong in these markets. When 2 huge worldwide companies Toyota (TM) & Bank of America have really big problems, buyers go on vacation. Now earnings season is winding down with little good news coming from it. Times ahead will be tough for the markets. Dow barely held on at 10K & that important floor will be tested after the jobs report tomorrow AM.

Dow Jones Industrials --- 6 months




Nasdaq --- 6 months