Nasdaq enters “bear” territory.

JANUARY 22, 2008: The Nasdaq officially ventured into ‘Bear Market’ territory today when it was down over 20% from it’s October 31st peak. It closed down 2% today after being down as much as 5.1%. Mining, Medical, and Metals stocks were weakest today. Stocks were in trouble as Hong Kong lost 8.6%, Shanghai dropped 7.2%, and the Nikkei swooned 5.6% yesterday. Fearing a ‘free fall’ this morning, the Fed dropped it’s funds rate by 3/4%, the most since 1984. This was also the first inter-meeting cut since 9/11. After the bell Apple missed revenues numbers and was trading down in the mid $130’s in after-hours trading.

Monsanto “derails” and finally succumbs to the correction.

For awhile I thought Monsanto and other fertilizer stocks would avoid this steep market correction, but this week they were all taken out to the “woodshed.” As with all bear markets, they eventually take everything down with them.

Suntech crashes in heavy volume.

Solar stocks which were the darlings of 2007 have not been treated too well in 08. Suntech shows how brutal selloff’s can be.

“Put” Options show exteme fear in the markets today.