Wall Street suffered its worst day of the year today with the selling pressure holding into the close. The Dow 30 was lower by 237, the S&P 500 lost 29, and the Nasdaq 100 suffered the biggest loss of the group, down 107. Tomorrow traders will get a look at the weekly, oil inventory numbers, along with existing home sales.
Financials were the hardest hit today as investors seemed to sell all day long. Bank of America (BAC ) lost 5.81% today alone, pushing below recent support levels. The stock is still up over 4% for the year but is now over 10% off of its highs of the year. Morgan Stanley (MS ) was also one of the weak ones in the financial sector losing 4.33% on the day.
The financial sector ETF (XLF ) had its worst day of the year today as well. The popular ETF lost 2.93% just today and now finds itself almost 7% off its highs set just a few weeks ago. Support areas that traders like to use were broken today but the sector does find itself slightly extended in the short term.
Even the tech powerhouse stocks like Apple (AAPL ) were not immune to the selling pressure today which is something new we haven't seen yet this year. Apple lost 1.13% today after setting new highs early in the session. Though a technical trader would say this is the beginning of a pullback, many longer term investors will not be phased by this move.
Lastly, volatility (VXX ) saw one of its best moves of the year so far. Investors started the move towards protection in the volatility products. The VXX added 3.73% today, but the real question among traders is, is this truly the bounce or just another one day wonder. The volatility space is down over 30% this year as, up until today there has been very little concern among traders.