Biggest Volume on Bank of America (BAC) today Oct. 8

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=BAC# ... =undefined



322 million plus shares traded on a down day... looks like this big domino could fall soon.


Dow Sinks Despite Rate Cuts; Banks Tumble in Late Trading

Central banks around the world eased interest rates on Wednesday but failed to loosen fear's stranglehold on the stock market, which suffered a feverish round of selling to end a whipsaw trading session in the red.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded in a 433-point range, alternately posting big gains and losses during the day. But it finished lower for a sixth straight time, down 189.01 points, off 2%, at 9258.10. The blue-chip measure has plummeted 14.7% during its recent skid, the longest in more than a year.

Financial stocks crumpled late in the session, sealing another day of declines for the major market benchmarks. The S&P 500 tumbled 1.1% to 984.94, with its financial sector ending down 4% even after entering the final 30 minutes of the session in positive territory. Big-name banks such as Citigroup and Bank of America dropped sharply. Insurer MetLife's shares dropped 22%.

Other market yardsticks finished lower. The tech-oriented Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.8% to end at 1740.33. The small-stock Russell 200 was off 2.2% to 546.57.

Volatility ruled the day despite a round of cuts in official interest rates. Prior to the start of regular trading in New York, the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England, Bank of Canada and other central banks announced a historic coordinated cut in borrowing costs. Stocks rallied shortly after the news hit the tape, but those initial gains faded fast, and markets swung between gains and losses for the rest of the day.

"It's never bad to get lower rates, but there's no 'wow' factor to the way they did this," after several days of investor anticipation of rate cuts, said Tony Dwyer, equity-market strategist at FTN Midwest Securities. "What they really need to do is blow the market away with some unexpected, positive action. Instead, they're taking great things and making them merely good."

Some analysts were skeptical that lowering rates would do much to unlock the current crisis, and many are still waiting to see how recent moves to intervene in the commercial-paper markets and relieve banks of their soured assets will pan out. In the meantime, interbank lending rates have remained high, in a sign that financial institutions remain reluctant to lend. And some investors said they were wary of the longer-term impacts of the rate cuts.

"We got into this problem because there was too much credit, and it was too cheap," fueling reckless speculation in recent years, said strategist Bill King, of M. Ramsey King Securities in Burr Ridge, Ill. "How can the solution be to have more?"

With stocks gyrating and credit-markets still seized, investors remained on edge. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, a measure of premiums paid for protection against market swings, hit an intraday record and finished 7.2% higher at 57.53.

Strategist Marc Pado, of Cantor Fitzgerald, said that redemptions by mutual-fund investors appear to have driven some of Wednesday's selling. But he anticipates that the latest round of central-bank easing will gradually attract investors back to stocks as banks lower interest rates on cash deposits their customers are holding in reserve.

"The moves we've seen here certainly don't correct all our problems in a day," said Mr. Pado. "But we're reaching a point where there's just not a lot of incentive to stay on the sidelines."

The start of earnings season is also hanging over markets. Many investors are beginning to fear that the third quarter was even tougher than they had expected for a range of companies. Alcoa, the aluminum giant, reported Tuesday that its net was more than halved in the third quarter; its shares were down 12%.

Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co, said he believes the market during its losing streak is undergoing a process of capitulation, or last-ditch selling that could soon include a bottom.

"The attitude today is sort of like the one people have when they call an ambulance," he said, referring to the official rate cuts. "They celebrate when the ambulance gets there on time, but then they stop and think: Oh, right. We need an ambulance."

Crude oil and other commodities traded lower amid worries about slowing demand due to weakness in the global economy. Crude futures were off $1.11, or 1.2%, to $88.95 a barrel in New York. The Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index shed 0.4%.

Gold was an exception to the commodity pullback, benefiting from a round of safe-haven buying. Futures on the metal were up $24.70, ot 2.8%,, at $903.10 per ounce in New York.

The dollar was mixed against major rivals. The euro cost $1.3643, down from $1.3667 late Tuesday. Against the Japanese currency, the dollar fetched 99.16 yen, down from 99.84 yen.

Write to Peter A. McKay at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1223460 ... s&ru=yahoo

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

Looks like MetLife's number may be up...
Adios "Snoopy" --

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 Life insurer MetLife Inc. recently approached Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. about a merger transaction, according to people familiar with the discussions. The talks didn't lead anywhere, these people said. But the approach shows how strains in the financial system have moved from banks to insurance companies.

Shares in both MetLife and Hartford plunged this week and last week after they prereported third-quarter investment losses and announced efforts to raise capital. Those declines pulled down other life insurers.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122350277312316857.html