OPENING WHIFF

Markets open lower and appear to be gaining downside traction as I type. The DJIA -79, NAZ -37 and SPX -13. MER is the story of the day with the $8b write down and after appearing to stabilize earlier it also appears to be heading lower.

Strongest sectors - airlines,utils, defense and gaming while semis, internets, tech, china and retail lag.

Key stocks - 11 green 29 red with CME ICE GRMN ISRG BG and NYX higher while AMZN NVDA BIDU UA SMH INTC act the worst.

NYSE internals 1630 net red;

NAZ internals 1330 net red;

NDX 16 WINNERS;

OEX 20 WINNERS;

IBD 100-15 WINNERS;

Biggest gainers- VMW BTJ EJ CF PKX GRMN ISRG ATI BDK GD AES AMGN ABT MO PCAR MCHP AOL DISH;

Biggest losers- BRCM ALTR AMZN JPNR LVLT MRVL NVDA MICC SNDK NSC NXM MS NXY WB CSCO MER LEH COP;

IBD 20 stocks that are trading down and nearing RSI (2) buy areas, CELG and BLK.

Tech not looking so great as AMZN SMH BIDU GOOG HPQ INTC NVDA BRCM CSCO TXN all down big. Semis have been going down for some time and I think lots of folks forget that if semis are lagging something must be amiss- unless of course its different this time.