Stocks Sharply Lower into Final Hour on Economic Fear, Financial Sector Pessimism, More Shorting, Profit-Taking

BOTTOM LINE: The Portfolio is lower into the final hour on losses in my Technology longs, Retail longs and Financial longs. I added (IWM)/(QQQQ) hedges and added to my (EEM) short this morning, thus leaving the Portfolio 75% net long. The tone of the market is very negative as the advance/decline line is substantially lower, every sector is falling and volume is slightly above average. Investor anxiety is very high. Today’s overall market action is bearish. The VIX is soaring 27.3% and is very high at 31.58. The ISE Sentiment Index is very low at 74.0 and the total put/call is very high at 1.20. Finally, the NYSE Arms has been running very high most of the day, hitting 4.03 at its intraday peak, and is currently 2.35. The Euro Financial Sector Credit Default Swap Index is jumping +6.91% today to 69.66 basis points. This index is down from its record March 10th high of 208.75. The North American Investment Grade Credit Default Swap Index is rising +2.32% to 106.95 basis points. This index is also well below its Dec. 5^th record high of 285.99. The TED spread is rising +1 basis point to 24 basis points. The TED spread is now down 440 basis points since its all-time high of 463 basis points on October 10th. The 2-year swap spread is rising +3.99% to 34.19 basis points. The Libor-OIS spread is unch. at 13 basis points. The 10-year TIPS spread, a good gauge of inflation expectations, is down -2 basis points to 2.02%, which is down 63 basis points since July 7th. The 3-month T-Bill is yielding .04%, which is down -1 basis point today. Cyclical and Small-Cap shares are under the most pressure today as economic fears rise to the fore once again. As well, (XLF)/(IYR) have traded heavy throughout the day. Bank, Insurance, Hospital, Oil Service, Coal and Disk Drive shares are substantially underperforming, falling 4%+. The market’s severe reaction to today’s news is a big negative. On the positive side, investor angst gauges are soaring with volume only slightly above average. I expect Asia to come under significant pressure Sunday night and negative stories over the weekend, which will likely lead to further US weakness Monday morning. However, I suspect another sharp snapback rally is in the offing early next week. Nikkei futures indicate a -254 open in Japan and DAX futures indicate a -17 open in Germany on Monday. I expect US stocks to trade mixed-to-lower into the close from current levels on rising economic fear, financial sector pessimism, profit-taking and more shorting.