A day after gaining ground after the FOMC cut rates by a quarter of a point, stocks were slaughtered today. Worries that the FOMC will not cut interest rates anymore were abound today on wall street. These worries were made far worse after analyst notes concerning some major banks and their inability to raise capital trashed the financial sector. The subprime problems are back in the news, with many questions now being raised of whether things are really getting better at financial institutions or not. The stock market started lower this morning and the selloff accelerated into the afternoon, ending at the session lows. The Dow lost 362 points while the Nasdaq fell 64 points. The broader S&P 500 index fell 41 
points, or 2.65%.
The clear leader on the downside today was the financial sector. All areas of the financial sector were crushed today. Wells Fargo and Company (NYSE:WFC) fell 5.59% on the day and hit a fresh 52 week low. JP Morgan Chase and Company (NYSE:JPM) lost 5.77% today. State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT) plunged 7.63% on heavy volume as investment services companies were hit hard today. American International Group (NYSE:AIG) lost 6.07% and Conseco (NYSE:CNO) plunged 10.39% as insurance companies were certainly not spared in the broad based bloodbath. Online broker E*Trade Financial Corporation (Nasdaq:ETFC) shares were slashed lower by 7.81% today.
Though they have done extremely well over the past year, it certainly was not a good day today for basic material stocks. BHP Billiton Limited (NYSE:BHP), the largest basic material company by market cap, led the group lower, losing 5.47%. Cameco Corporation (NYSE:CCJ) shares plunged by 7.81% on nearly triple their average daily volume. Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:ATI) fell 5.58% as metal stocks fell today. Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) fell by 6.63% on the day.
Notable 52 Week Lows
- Washington Mutual Inc. (NYSE:WM) Lost 7.64% today on huge volume today.
- Tellabs (Nasdaq:TLAB) Shares fell 3.52% today.
- CarMax (NYSE:KMX) Fell by 5.17% today on double its average daily volume.
- Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB) Shares lost 4.79% on the day.
- Conagra Foods (NYSE:CAG) Lost 1.85% today to hit a new 52 week low.
A very notable piece of news from today is the fact that the Federal Reserve pumped $41 billion into the US financial system through the central bank's open market operations. This was the largest amount pumped into the system since the first trading day after 9/11/01.
The volume was strong to the downside today, but was certainly not overwhelming. The Nasdaq traded $2.6 billion shares and the NYSE $1.76 billion shares. The volume was 84% to the downside at the Nasdaq and 90% to the downside at the NYSE.
Watch for another post later this evening about the key earnings reports from the day today.
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