• It appears my web site manager has not changed his clock.  I wrote this at 4:13.
• A tough day for traders.  It was chop all day.  But for the second day in a row there was some modest buying on the close.  In the end, however, both the Dow and S&P were off a bit over 1%.
• Banks were on fire.  An almost perpetually winning trade had been FAZ, the 3X inverse financial ETF.  As discussed last week this entity trades in buckets, over 22 million shares a day. It’s spread today was a low of $92 and high of $112.  Not for the faint of heart, these 3X shares trade with breathtaking velocity.  This is gambling at its finest.  I suppose it serves some economic purpose but it escapes me.  The other side of FAZ, that would be FAS has a 52-week high of $52 and currently trades at $2.70, up 2% on the day as it reflects the higher prices for banks shares.
• Bank stock prices may be reflecting a real chance they may find relief with accounting changes which would benefit their portfolios.  Mark to market changes could help cloud over the reality of position pricing but really doesn’t change the toxic character of portfolios.
• Gold has fallen off a cliff, off $16.90 on the day but had traded much lower.
• So, unless you are hedged somehow this really is not a suitable market, for now, for any buy and holder.  If you insist on holding use protection.  Unfortunately, the inverse ETFs are now showing themselves as less than reliable followers of their indexes.  But they are better than nothing, especially for an IRA or 401k.

Have a wonderful Monday evening!