The Bears Shake Things Up

Today the market answered the question "Do poor earnings matter?" with an emphatic "Yes!" Alcoa (AA) started off the third-quarter earnings season with a poor response to its report and we've seen a steady flow of negative responses since then. The market hit the tipping point today when key stocks in various sectors of the market all issued weak reports and decreased guidance. Google (GOOG), General Electric (GE), Microsoft (MSFT), Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG)and McDonald's (MCD) where the primary culprits today but other leaders, without earnings news, like Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) fell by the wayside as well.

Technically, the Nasdaq is by far the worst of the major indices. It cracked support as it took out last week's lows and it now looks like it is headed for the 200-day simple moving average at 2968. The S&P 500 looks better, as it is still above last week's low and is sitting right at its 50-day simple moving average. However, it is in a very precarious position, and a break blow 1425 will spark another round of sell-stops....196 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.

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