PRE OPEN

Looks like the usual start to the day with the futures way down and more bad news out of C (job cuts in the 30K range and not enough capital according to certain big investors) and INTC (declining gross margins). No fear- the guy in the picture sees big bargains in GOOG/AAPL etc- forget the broken stock rule.

The 1315 area on the SPX is recent support and a breach of that area could set of a major wave of selling. A long side trade from there once the selling subsides may make sense.

Bernanke in the media as I type with the following:

"current housing woes differ from past due to widespread negative equity"

"more should be done to stem foreclosure increases"

"supply demand imbalances suggest further declines in home prices likely"

Gapping up- QSC BITS SNTS TSL SUPG OVEN FNSR PRFT BEXP FLML MNKD IPCS GFI AAU AU AUY CHRD BRL RAME GCO GRPT ESI CPLA JASO LDK;

Gapping down- JTX OMPI CLWR NCS BKS CCRN PMI XIN SLXP LF HMIN PBR SD AVAV SNDK NOK ALU ERIC INTC AMD HBC C UBS BCS BSC MER;