It's a lousy day for global growth fans.
It's one of those days where the market is worse than the indices indicate…5 to 1 declining to advancing stocks at the NYSE, with notable weakness in Energy, Consumer Discretionary, and particularly commodity names.
It's the commodity complex that is the root of the problem. Gasoline down 2.2 percent, WTI Crude Oil down 1.2 percent, Nickel down 4.2 percent and Copper down 1.7 percent.
When you have a day like this, you get shippers down big: Frontline (FRO), for example, down 7.9 percent, Eagle Bulk Shipping (EGLE) down 9.3 percent.
You also get iron ore and steel stocks weak...big names like BHP (BHP) are down three percent or more.
Global growth slowdown concerns are also weighing on emerging markets...
- iShares Emerging Markets ETF (EEM): -1%
- KraneShares China Internet ETF (KWEB): -3%
- iShares Brazil ETF (EWZ): -3%
- iShares South Africa ETF (EZA): -3%
- iShares LatAm ETF (ILF): -2%
- iShares Australia ETF (EWA): -1%
In a broader context, we are also seeing weakness in momentum names like Chinese internets and social media stocks.
So what's causing this jitteriness? Not much at all. Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei, speaking last night at the G20 meeting, implied that a major stimulus program might not be forthcoming. There's some concern that the manufacturing PMI to be released tonight might be weak.
But that is pretty thin gruel for a market selloff.
My sense is a lot of this will change once Q3 earnings start to come in. Overall, Q3 earnings look pretty good. The Street estimates are around 6 percent growth, that is what we had last quarter and we ended up with almost 10 percent growth in earnings, another record.
In my mind, it is still basically a Goldilocks scenario. I see nothing on the tape that suggests this is the beginning of a major selloff. We are continuing to grind around 2,000 on the .
Inflation? Not here, not yet. Big-time economic growth? No. Fed worries? The Fed is usually a bigger threat to stocks when inflation is around than when they are responding to slightly stronger growth.
If the usual pattern holds, a few more days like this and buyers will likely come out of the woodwork.