The Slippery Slope

In spite of every hope and effort to the contrary, we closed them out at our lows. Not even the passing of the bailout bill and rampant rumors of rate cuts over the coming weekend was enough to save this tape.

For the week, the S&P 500 declined -9.38%, Dow -7.34%, the Nasdaq -10.81%, and the Russell 2000 -12.12%. Indeed, a year's worth of losses in just one quick week.

Once again everything "ultra" short provided the most bang for the buck. Pull up the charts of SMN, SKK, SRS, SIJ, TWM, DUG, & SDD and you'll see +25% gains just over the past five trading sessions. What a great time to be a bear. Enjoy it while it lasts my furry friends.

Next week we can look forward to more speeches by Bernanke & Co. along with updates on Consumer Credit, Pending Home Sales, Chain Store Sales, Wholesale Trade, Import & Export data, and what should be one heck of a report - the Treasury Budget as third quarter earnings season fast approaches.

Rest up this weekend. Like usual, we're going to need to bring our "A" game to the table next week to make the most of this market mayhem. See you then!