OUT OF SHORTS

That was fun with the shorts but now going home shortless as I suspect this weekend we may find some bullish news- besides any ramp at the open on Monday can always be shorted.

Interesting how the RUT is now best performer on the day as it has been a dreadful performer of late.

Also, nice to see C JPM BAC GE GM out performing and green on the day.

MIDDAY VIEW

Still don't see any reason to run in and buy as the markets continue to confound- if you bought the morning low - you did pretty pretty well - other than that - not so good.

My strategy - short into an afternoon move higher and wait for the margin calls/ afternoon redemtions as I suspect the will show like just about every other day the past two weeks.

BTW, Kudos to Cramer for getting it right and now he is calling to hold your nose and buy. Hope so.

THE OPEN

Markets are moving kind of quickly as we went below 7900 on the DJIA and have since rallied 600 points.

Strongest sectors- financials, ags, real estate and homies while utils, internets, retail and gaming lags.

NYSE- 1200 net losers;

NAZ- 500 net losers;

NDX- 70 GREEN;

OEX- 40 GREEN;

VIX- hit a high over 70 and now way back down at 67;

No clue how the day goes as just about everyone is expecting a bottom and I dont think that usually goes well- but we are in uncharted territory.

NAZ clearly leading the way and I suspect that is the place to be if you feel compelled to buy- my guess rallies get sold for a while - so not jumping for joy yet- I want stabilization more than anything.

BACK ON FRIDAY

THE CLOSE

Markets spit the bit into the close as usual and the +150 on the DJIA turned quickly into -200.

The sellers just crush the sellers at the end of the day and there is not much else to say.

Metals, homies, internets and oils were the leaders while brokers, telecom, banks and utils lagged.

VIX- closed near 57.65 and up 7.4%;

Gold $910;

Crude- near $89;

Not much to say except that it appears the country is going out of business and all investments are quickly moving to zero- best investment maybe a good hand gun.

TECHNICAL MOVES

A few technical difficulties this AM but up and working now- Looks like a little rally from the red 250 level. I suspect today's rally off these lows will hold for a bit.

NYSE- -1940 net losers;

NAZ- 1300 net losers;

NDX- 55 GREEN;

OEX- 40 GREEN;

VIX- 57.7 level and up about 7.5%;

Up volueme a bit less that the down;

Looking for a bounce and hopefully a little longer term ramp up - Tech and the NAZ now leading - lets see what happens.

BRUTAL

Another day in paradise as Cramer has won the first inning with yesterday's sell call- as the markets hit the lowest level since October 2003 (SP 500). However, its a long difficult game.

DJIA -508, NAZ -108 and SPX 61 at 996.

MS deal to get done shortly at about $25 per share despite todays close at $17+- hmmm - I suspect they redo the pricing or Mitsu walks away.

NYSE/NAZ -4500 net losers;

VIX- higher by 3.5% at/near 54;

SPX down at 997 and off 61 on the day and a kewl 19% below its SMA 10- and I thought 10% below was a big stretch.

Kass with an interesting take as he suspects hedge funds are selling SPX futures against their crummy longs- and when that turns it could be the mother of all rallies.

Biggest loser in today's crushing - yea John McCain defending the strong fundys of the economy with the DJIA -500.

MIDDAY SLIP

Just when everyone was ready to throw Cramer under the bus for his sell call yesterday - the markets have move lower after ramping up in the morning on the heels of more Fed help.

DJIA -200, NAZ 45 and SPX 24.

The damage is in gaming, real estate, banks, internets and retail while ags and metals are higher.

NYSE- 1500 net losers;

NAZ- 890 net losers;

NDX- 8 GREEN;

OEX- 20 GREEN;

VIX- lower by 5% at 49.15;

Down volume 4X the up;

SPX still about 25 points above yesterday's lows and I am sure that if we approach those levels the dip buyers will show big time.

Surprisingly, Vince Farrell of realmoney.com and CNBC calling for a bottom in this area - of course he calls a bottom every time the markets have a down day. Value added- and don't forget to dip in and buy the financials-

THE OPEN

Markets have quickly flipped to red after a nice pop on the news the FED would be buying commercial paper. DJIA -38, NAZ -15 and SPX 4.

Strong sectors- ags, metals, oils, utils and drugs while banks, homies, gaming, tech and internet lag.

NYSE/NAZ flat internals;

NDX- 285 GREEN;

OEX- 50 GREEN;

VIX- down 5% at 49.5;

Up volume trailing down by about 50%;

gold +2% at $877;

Crude- $90;

Euro- 1.367;

I suspect a lot of oscillation today but little net gain or loss after yesterday's big move. Note the action in GOOG RIMM AAPL - all down about 4% and red from the open- a good clue that the rally would not sustain.

I suspect a better time to sell will be in a few days.

THE BIG STRETCH

Markets rallied big off the bottom yesterday but are still way oversold- how much - well the QQQQ is about 20% below its 50 SMA and the SPX is about 15% below- that is quite far down considering it is highly unusual to be 10% below.

And the VIX at levels rarely if ever seen- so probably not a great time to capitulate.

The Quant with his off the chart stuff;

Bill Gross on what to do next;

How bout this as a Contrary indicator;

Mike with the capitulation;

Last note- the visitors to this site yesterday the most in years.

CLOSING RAMP

Markets have rallied back from SPX 1008 to SPX 1061 and volatility remains a bit on the high side. Moments before the close DJIA -315, NAZ 75 and SPX -35.

NYSE- 2700 net losers;

NAZ- 2050 net losers;

NDX/OEX 10 WINNERS on each;

VIX- higher by 13% at/near 51 after hitting the 58 level;

Shorting at these levels probably not a great idea and waiting for the markets to settle down a bit probably good advice- so if one needs to sit on the sidelines for a while without trading is probably also a good idea.

The biggest loser today appears to be everyones favorite CNBC commentator who came out with a big big sell signal this morning. Maybe pretty soon before he tells us it never happened.

OPENING MUCH

Markets are way down yet again and the DJIA has broken the 10K level as markets around the world get crushed.

Metals the only sector in the green while ags shipping and emerging markets are the worst.

NYSE- 2770 net losers;

NAZ- 1900 net losers;

NDX- 1 GREEN;

OEX- 1 GREEN;

VIX- higher by 14% and over 50;

Not much to do here - IMVHO - not buying or shorting here as we are going to have a whopper of a rally sometime soon-

Check out the Rob Kirby link - as he has his take on what really happened with LEH.

Finally- what about buying Mccain on the Iowa markets and Obama on intrade. That ought to work.