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The quiet days on wall street lately have been few and far between so today seemed like a snoozer of sorts. Sure there was some volatility, but the Dow only had a 100 point range today, which is nothing compared to the usual 200 or 300 point ranges of late. The Dow finished the day with a gain of 42 points, the Nasdaq finished with a gain of more than 3 points, and the S&P 500 finished with a loss of less than one point.                

The financial stocks, which have been hit hard of late, but had a great run Friday, took a breather today with most of them closing lower. Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC) fell 7.5% as reports came out that the company may be nearing an announcement of major layoffs. Basic materials was the strongest sector in today's trading up about 1.5%. Alcoa Inc (NYSE: AA) traded up by about 3%, and Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc (NYSE: FCX) gained 4%. LOW was the largest earnings release out today, and as we wrote about earlier, results came in above expectations, which helped the stock finish up over 6%.

Top losers on the day included Moody's Corporation (NYSE: MCO), the major credit agency, which lost 8.18% on the day. The stock traded more than double its normal daily volume in this large selloff. The company's stock was hit hard by increasing calls for examination and reviews of credit agencies.

Equities were actually not the market with the most movement today, as treasury bills rallied strongly today. Earlier today I visited the subject of the move in treasuries, and put into perspective just how big the rally in short-term treasuries was today. The flight to quality evident among money market managers is reaching a surprisingly high level.

The mood of the equity markets today was actually more like a normal Monday in August and it was actually nice for a change. Don't get complacent, there are still going to be some very volatile days ahead!