If one had looked at the stock market indices a little after 2 pm today they would have seen a very ugly picture. At their worst levels; which were hit a little after 2 pm on the east coast, the Dow was down 205, the Nasdaq 79, and the S&P by 30. In the last hour and 45 minutes buyers stepped in and the Dow finished lower by one point, the S&P lower by almost 4, and the Nasdaq lower by 24.50. 
The Nasdaq was the clear leader to the downside today as investors reacted very negatively to several earnings reports from tech land that were out last night. Amazon, Juniper, and Broadcom all were hit hard on earnings problems.
Intel Corporation (Nasdaq:INTC) fell by 2.95% on the day to lead the big cap tech stocks lower. Infosys Technologies Limited (Nasdaq:INFY) shares dropped by 4.06%. SanDisk Corporation (Nasdaq:SNDK) fell by 3.77% and NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq:NVDA) dropped 3.38% as all the chip related stocks were very weak on the day.
The companies who are most related to the consumer were quite weak today. Specialty retailers were mostly weaker today as investors worried that the consumer may not be able to keep up their recent spending levels. Guess Inc. (NYSE:GES) plunged 5.28% on heavy volume today. J Crew Group Inc. (NYSE:JCG) shares fell by 5.68% on four times its normal daily volume.
Financial stocks were under pressure most of the day after Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER) reported the biggest quarterly loss in its history of 8.4 billion dollars. The thing that really disturbed investors was that as recent as early this month the company had said it would lose just $5.5 billion. There was clearly a disconnect here. MER shares fell by 5.81% on the day. Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) was also very weak today, losing 3.55% of its value on heavy volume. Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) also lost 4.11% on the day as it and Fannie were both downgraded by Lehman today.
Energy stocks were the standout group today, gaining ground as crude oil prices surged more than $1 today. Valero Corporation (NYSE:VLO) charged higher by 2.68% on the day. Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) gained 3%, finishing close to a 52 week high. Coal stocks were also strong today, led by Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU), which was higher by 2.58%.
The volume was certainly strong today, with the Nasdaq trading over 2.8 billion shares. The NYSE traded a fairly high amount as well, finishing at right around 1.6 billion shares changing hands. It is important to note that the last half hour, which saw a nice rebound had some very heavy trading. The down volume still led the up volume by a wide margin on both major exchanges.
What should you as an investor take from this whipsaw trading action today? At this point it is clear that the volatility is back into this stock market. I think it would be a mistake to read too much into any one trading day right now, because the next day could be the polar opposite. I will be watching for trends over several days to see what the next move of the market may be, but I wouldn't advise using one day as the case for a trend in either direction. The earnings reports that are being released constantly right now are extremely important to the direction of the market, and yes don't forget, next week is another FOMC meeting.
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