The market spent much of the day in the red with the financials holding the major indices down once again. The latest company to suffer was TMA as liquidity concerns have many betting the company will go out of business. This put the homebuilders, banks and investment banks under pressure for a third straight session. And the quasi-government lenders, FRE and FNM, continue to trade to new lows. If FNM breaks $25, this stock could be trading in the mid-teens in a matter of weeks.
For now, at least, the market remains range bound. The S&P 500 broke below the 1325 level briefly at the end of the day, but the major indices were bid up before the closing bell.
Preventing the market from a complete collapse was the relative strength in the commodity related stocks. The price of oil, gold, silver, platinum , coal and the soft commodities were all higher again, and this helped the energy, metals and agriculture names. This market will only begin to crash when POT, RIG, ANR, ABX, BHP and other commodity stocks begin to sell off.
Large cap technology sold off, with GOOG, AAPL and RIMM leading the way lower. Retail has held firm, and the large department stores are the best names to own. Today KSS was given a boost by a JP Morgan upgrade. The stock has performed very well the past two days as the market have fallen, even after the company guided lower for the upcoming quarter on Friday.
We could see a bounce over the next couple of days as the major indices are back at the bottom of the respective trading ranges. But poor economic data or the uncovering of another financial mess may break this market.
