CHESSNOID

We were above the 9,000 mark for a couple of days, but look like were back on our way to 8,000. The main reasons are attributed back to our economy:

In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 346.55, or 3.72 percent, to 8,964.44 after being down as many as 375 points in the early going. Broader stock indicators also declined. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 44.84, or 4.49 percent, to 953.17, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 56.02, or 3.15 percent, to 1,722.99.

The government’s report that retail sales plunged in September by 1.2 percent — almost double the 0.7 percent drop analysts expected — made it clear that consumers are unlikely to reach for their wallets in the coming months as they worry about a shaky economy.

The Commerce Department report is sobering because consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. The reading comes as Wall Street is beginning to refocus its attention on the faltering economy following stepped up government efforts to revive the stagnant credit markets.

The technicals are pointing down, so any rally we have will have to last more than 1 day to reverse the moving averages. Fundamentally, it doesn’t look like housing, jobs, or retail look to have a good 4th quarter this year. That would indicate the market will continue to have more losing than winning days in the future.