THE BACK STOP

Markets close way down on the heels of lower oil and higher interest rates. Yesterday, I mentioned how over sold the volatility indexes were and how it was time to sell; well didn't think we would implode this quickly but it is what it is.

Strong sectors included airlines, retail and internet while silvers, oils, real estate, utilities and gaming lagged.

Big winners- UAUA PDCO QCOM HD TWX FDX TGT HURN PTNR GSOL BWLD and ICE.

Big losers- BW SSYS NOV GTI TSO NTAP GRMN MNST EXC XOM CVX TYC and AA.

Market internals way ugly at a net 3,100 red on the NYSE and NAZ while the OEX/NDX closed with about 4x as many losers as winners.

The DJIA with 5 winners and 25 losers- winners include HD GM and PG while XOM JPM and HON were crushed.

The SPX closed at a 2 day RSI of 15 and the VIX/VXO are both up about 14% and only trading at/near their 10 day SMA's, so no buy signals yet as they were wayyyyyyyy over sold.

Also, the last time we had an implosion in equities, the 50 day SMA on the SPX proved to be a great back stop. Where dat- SPX 1,503 and about 9 points lower.

And a new guy interested in buying DJ at $60- interesting as now Rupert is probably going to have to raise his bid and the Bancroft's will probably have to sell at a higher price. Good news all around and long DJ.