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From Briefing.com: 4:20 pm : Stocks tumbled Tuesday as investors got spooked by everything from renewed credit concerns to worries that consumer spending may be slowing even more than initially anticipated. The major averages closed at their lowest levels in about four months.

Reports that Sentinel Management Group may halt redemptions due to significant requests exacerbated concerns that tight credit conditions are spilling over into what are traditionally thought of as one of the "ultimate safe havens" -- money market accounts. As an aside, Wednesday marks the last day for many hedge fund investors to submit redemption requests for the third quarter.

Since liquidity concerns continue to leave many worried that a real credit crunch is forthcoming, the Sentinel news pulled the rug out from under a Financial sector that was finally enjoying a morning without worrisome headlines related to the credit market turmoil. The sector's 2.5% sell-off, though, removed significant leadership and left the sector down more than 12% year-to-date.

The Consumer Discretionary (-2.7%) turned in an even worse performance, as it paced the way among the 10 sectors losing ground. New evidence that suggested the consumer is pulling back on spending took an added toll on sentiment.

Albeit a component in the Consumer Staples sector, Wal-Mart (WMT 43.77 -2.40), the nation's largest retailer, missed analysts' expectations and cut its full-year profit outlook. Fellow Dow component Home Depot (HD 33.50 -1.74) topped Wall Street's forecasts; but Q2 profits plunged 15% and management said it sees housing-market softness extending into 2008.

A couple of positive takeaways that initially helped investors look past the disappointing quarterly results from the two retailers included a tame inflation read (e.g. core-PPI) and huge demand for the biggest IPO since Google debuted three years ago.

Vmware (VMW 51.00 +22.00), which was spun off from EMC Corp (EMC 18.34 -0.71), priced at the high end ($29 a share) of its range and opened up nearly 80% at $52. A sell-the-news reaction, however, weighed on EMC as well as two of VMware's investors.

Tech bellwethers Intel (INTC 23.80 -0.22) and Cisco Systems (CSCO 30.26 -0.57), which own stakes in VMW of 2.5% and 1.6%, respectively, initially surged on the move but also succumbed to a lack of enthusiasm to own anything. Of the 147 S&P industry groups, 143 posted losses.

With the Fed reiterating that inflation remains its "predominant" concern, the Labor Dept. saying that core PPI in July rose just 0.1% was also noteworthy. That followed gains of 0.2% in May and 0.3% in June. However, an already nervous market plagued by credit worries quickly opted to wait for tomorrow's CPI report to get a better inflation read on Fed policy direction. DJ30 -207.61 NASDAQ -43.12 SP500 -26.38 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 2250/815/1.99 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 2886/452/1.71 bln

3:59PM Market View: Broad based pressure and new multi-month lows for Dow and S&P 500 (TECHX) : A mixed, slightly positive start to the day for the market indices elicited no follow through interest as credit fears/subprime woes remain in the headlines. This has kept Financial (Broker/Dealer -3.1%, Bank -1.9%) and Home Construction (XHB -3.7%, REITs IYR -3.9%) on the defensive with negatives in Retail -3.3% (WMT -5.1% misses estimate and cuts forecast, HD -4.9% sees 15% drop in Q2 EPS, MAT -2.4% hurt by recalls) adding to the negative bias. Only minor and short lived bounce attempts were noted with the indices faltering into the close. The Dow, S&P 500 and NYSE Comp slipped under last week's lows to establish fresh multi-month lows while the Nasdaq Comp flirts with similar levels and its 200 day sma/ema. Also on the defensive were Rail -3.7%, Paper -3.7%, Trucking -3.4%, Gold/Silver -3%, Coal -2.6%, Airline -2.5%, Steel -2.4% etc. Minor gains were noted in Biotech +0.8% (DNA +1.9%).

12:18PM ASM Intl NV announces it has repurchased 250,000 shares of its common stock for approx EUR 4.7 (ASMI) 26.02 -0.28 :

09:32 am F5 Networks: CIBC Wrld Mkts initiates Sector Outperform. CIBC initiated F 5 Networks FFIV with an Outperform and an $85 price tgt as they believe the market for application networking solutions still has many years of growth ahead and see F5 as well positioned to capitalize on these strong fundamentals. With a Layer 4-7 chassis product on the way pairing it directly in Cisco's (CSCO) domain, firm expects continued share gains through '08. Furthermore, they expect the integration of F5's TMOS software into its WAN and security products to support solid growth after a mixed track record in these areas.

09:32 am KVH Industries: Needham & Co upgrades Hold to Buy. Target $12. Needham upgrades KVHI to Buy from Hold with a $12 tgt saying while KVHI has historically struggled to get all of the pieces of its business firing at once they believe it is poised to see meaningfully better results in its high-margin defense business in late 2007 and 2008, continued growth in its Marine business and steady, if modest, growth from its Land business. They see a healthy current backlog and the expected receipt of 5-yr/$50 mln contract by the end of September driving a 4Q07/1H08 rebound in KVH's Defense business. Additionally, the firm sees the potential for upside for KVH in '08 if remotely operated weapons systems are specified for high priority M.R.A.P vehicles, which will be being shipped in large numbers in 2008.

09:31 am RF Micro Device: Citigroup upgrades Hold to Buy. Citigroup upgraded RFMD to Buy from Hold, maintaining its $8.60 price tgt. Firm says Sirenza deal begins to change RFMD's story from new product (Polaris II) and OEM recovery from Motorola (MOT) to profitable revenue growth through acquisition-related revenue diversification. Firm says the deal creates the first real prospect in years for gross margin expansion to the 40% range; positive estimate revisions on deal synergies are catalysts over the next six-to-nine months.