Flood Gates Open Again as Dow Drops 240 Points on Lending Crisis, Weak Spending
Just when we thought it was safe to go back in the water, stocks implode again, today putting us on a crash course with the lows set last week. This market is so jittery even Goldman Sachs, the world's biggest and most profitable securities firm, gave up gains following record earnings. Is this the second leg of a major correction or is their cash to be made amid today's carnage?
Eric Bolling says one day does not a correction make. This was the other leg of the recent correction, today.
He says when Goldman Sachs (GS) went negative investors saw an exodus of all asset classes. Typically you test a prior low, 1371 was the prior low of the S&P (SPY). Today, we saw 1377. If it holds the low you get a double bottom and sometimes that’s a good buying point, but Eric says don’t buy yet.
Guy Adami says with all the bad news about subprime mortgages, traders threw in the towel. When GS went lower, that was the whole market saying sell it right here.
Tim Strazzini says it was a string of things not just subprime, it was the entire consumer loan space. Consumers will have tighter purse strings with which to access money and keep the economy going. And you have delinquency rates exploding on homes. Plus, with home builders selling off yesterday, it all cascaded into today. And then there was a soft retail number.
Then what does an investor do?
Tim says stay under-invested. If you have to put money to work, buy safe names such as Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) or Altria (MO). But nothing is impervious to further downturns in the market. At best, the market will be trading sideways for 30 days.
Jeff Macke says if you didn’t sell this morning at 9:30 a.m., then it’s too late to sell. He does not recommend trying to short this market. He’s been watching the KBW Bank Index -- known as the BKX -- which is already making new lows on this move down. That’s going to take the S&P with it.
So if investors hold stock, should they sell?
Eric says no. You’d be selling into a hole. Just hold, it might even be a buying opportunity, you might get another wave of selling.
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