There's a plaque down on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. It's a screenshot of the closing prices of major stocks on Oct. 19, 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 22 percent in a single day. Here's a few of the closing prices that day:
Walt Disney: $46, down $18 7/8
Texas Instruments: $48, down $19 1/4
Apple: $36 1/2, down $11 3/4
Microsoft: $45 1/4, down $19 1/2
And look at the New York Stock Exchange volume. Up volume: 2,045,000; down volume 603,137,000.
That is 300-to-1, down stocks to up stocks.
Now, THAT is a debacle.
Group of Securities
We'll be talking about the famous crash several times today, but check out my interview with three old pros who were on the NYSE floor then and are still here now. (Watch: Art Cashin Remembers Market Crash of 1987.)
Elsewhere:
1) Earnings: hitting a tough patch. Well, we were doing OK until Google reported. Third quarter started out fairly well, with most banks beating. But now we are getting into the meat of earnings season, and it's a little touchier. (Read More: See CNBC.com's Complete Earnings Coverage.)
In tech, International Business Machines disappoints, Google misses big, Microsoft misses, so technology earnings overall are now expected to be barely positive for the group, after expectations the group might be up a few points.
In industrials, Ingersoll-Rand beats but 2012 guidance at low end, Honeywell beat, but revenue was light (lowers 2012 revenues), Parker Hannifin was light (lowers 2013 earnings per share), and General Electric was in-line, but revenue was light.
Earnings growth for the third quarter, which has been slightly positive in the last few days, is now FLAT. Now 115 companies have reported, with 59 percent beating estimates, below the historic range of 62 percent.
So far, revenue is expected to be up 1.3 percent this quarter. It was up about 5 percent last quarter, and we are expecting a 4 percent gain for the fourth quarter.
Some comments this morning:
Ingersoll Rand : "Uneven and choppy demand."
GE : "The overall environment remains challenging."
Parker Hannifin : "We delivered a solid level of earnings this quarter, in spite of ongoing weakness in international markets and softness in North America."
2) Global markets this week: Not bad. Europe had a great week, with bond yields dropping and stocks up:
This Week
Spain 4.3%
Germany 2.3%
S&P 500 2.0%
China 1.1%
Brazil 1.0%
—By CNBC's Bob Pisani; Follow Him on Twitter @BobPisani
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