market summary: Close Dow -58.70 at 9988.54, S&P -6.59 at 1103.52, Nasdaq -19.60 at 1859.88: It was a choppy session for the stock market that ultimately ended at its worst levels - speaking volumes about the issues weighing it down... Crude oil and analyst commentary all worked in the favor of the bears, and the equity market finally caved in under such profits' concerns... Crude oil climbed 2% for the day - ending at 49.64/bbl - as traders worried about the supply implications of four hurricanes off the Florida coast and incidences of civil unrest in Nigeria... As a result, the energy group was one of the few groups to find buying interest in today's session...
Homebuilding/mortgage was the other exception as (1) interest rates fell in conjunction with the bond market's rally (2) August New Home Sales rose to 1.184 mln (consensus of 1.155 mln), and (3) Fannie Mae (FNM 66.50 +0.99) found bargain-hunting interest following its sell-off last week on federal regulators' accounting findings... Conversely, brokerage, biotech, airline, insurance, retail, and technology all led the market lower...
The latter was particularly impacted by a Morgan Stanley downgrade of semiconductor to In-Line from Attractive and a Prudential downgrade of communication equipment to Neutral from Favorable...SOX -1.5, NYSE Adv/Dec 1183/2115, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 866/2216
