Markets spent a second session almost entirely in the red Wednesday and a brief thrill post Fed minutes report almost had the indexes seeing green. Both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 were off by 1.3% at session lows at lunchtime and ended the day down .8%. The Nasdaq held the round 5000 handle as it has on a CLOSING basis since retaking it on 7/11. The S&P 500 has shown remarkable support at the 200 day SMA as it did trade below it intraday once again, only to finish back above, albeit barely. One has to wonder if investors are becoming complacent that it is almost automatic that this will occur each time it happens. Since the beginning of June the S&P 500’s 50 day SMA has been recording a series of lower highs and lower lows. Volume has been soft which is traditional in the late August timeframe. Utilities were the best performing sector today even though it was near the UNCH line. For the second consecutive day all 10 major S&P sectors were in the red, an indication of broad based selling. Groups losing more than 1% included consumer staples and materials. Energy slumped close to 2.5%. It appears there are becoming fewer and fewer place to hide as evidenced by some weakness even in the best of breed defensive food names. This week alone WWAV is lower by 7% and is now underneath the intraday lows of the 8/7 day when it last reported earnings. Below is the chart how it appeared in our Monday 7/20 Game Plan. HAIN fell 7% on Tuesday after earnings on the largest single daily volume of the last year.

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