The Dow and other major averages were sent off like fireworks at the open, but stalled in early trading, beginning their descent just after 10:00 am ET. The Dow topped off at 25,040.58 and continued lower, finally bottoming out at 24,122.23, an intra-day loss of more than 900 points, top to bottom. With just 15 minutes left in the trading session, short-covering took the Dow up more than 300 points, eviscerating more than half of the day's losses.
As for percentages, the Dow today actually was sent down just over 10% on both a closing and intra-day basis form the October 3rd all-time high. Intra-day, the Dow topped out at 26,951.81 before closing at 26,828.39. That puts the 10% correction mark at 24,256.63, intra-day, and 24,145.55 on a closing basis, both of which were exceeded today, though the closing number avoided a clear-cut entry into correction.
As for the benchmark S&P 500, today's close was 9.8% lower than the September 20 closing high of 2930.75. For those who like round numbers, that would qualify as being close enough, especially since the S&P bottomed out at 2,603.54, well below the number necessary to call it a correction. That index was down more than 55 points prior to the late-day rescue, finishing with a modest 17-point decline.
The NASDAQ and Dow Jones Transportation Index, both already well into correction territory, suffered even more losses on the day.
In agreement with Morgan Stanley's Wilson, there's growing evidence that what stocks are undergoing is anything but cyclical in nature, despite Friday's advance reading of third quarter GDP coming in at a rosy 3.5%. It's worth noting that the most recent quarter's growth was less than the second quarter's 4.2%, and that the first estimate is often revised lower in subsequent months, as data becomes more well-defined. Additionally, the third quarter figures were goosed higher primarily by consumer spending rather than business capital expenditures (CapEx), which were moribund.
For those of bullish sentiment, one has to consider just where markets are supposed to go when unemployment is at historic lows and the stock market is at historic highs, more than nine years into the longest bull market expansion in stock market history.
Proponents of Dow Theory (and the Elliott Wave) need only to look at a one or three-month chart to surmise that the Dow and the Transports have signaled a primary trend change - bullish to bearish. The Dow fell sharply from October 3rd to the 11th, rallied meekly through the 16th and puked it all up (or down, as the case may be) to current levels. The transports had already completed the four-step top-bottom-recovery-lower bottom prior to today's disaster, although it's all-time high was back on August 29.
The not-so-wild cards in the current scenario are the Fed's relentless assault on the federal funds rate, furiously raising a quarter point per quarter, inflation fueling via Trump's trade tariffs, and the stubbornness of wages to do anything but stagnate. It's a potpourri of potential pitfalls that are hard to ignore.
Like housing prices prior to the sub-prime crash, stock valuations do not always go up. This time is not different, and, judging by the frantic closing activity today, tomorrow could be a fully-loaded house of pain.
Unless the Dow rallies over the next two days, Octobers cumulative loss is looking to exceed the February and March losses combined.
And so it goes. Markets are cyclical and sometimes, secular. The latest days of trading feel like sometime has arrived.
Incidentally, today is the anniversary of Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929. Could that wicked buying in the final fifteen minutes have been an attempt to prevent history repeating?
Dow Jones Industrial Average October Scorecard:
| Date | Close | Gain/Loss | Cum. G/L |
| 10/1/18 | 26,651.21 | +192.90 | +192.90 |
| 10/2/18 | 26,773.94 | +122.73 | +315.63 |
| 10/3/18 | 26,828.39 | +54.45 | +370.08 |
| 10/4/18 | 26,627.48 | -200.91 | +169.17 |
| 10/5/18 | 26,447.05 | -180.43 | -11.26 |
| 10/8/18 | 26,486.78 | +39.73 | +28.47 |
| 10/9/18 | 26,430.57 | -56.21 | -27.74 |
| 10/10/18 | 25,598.74 | -831.83 | -859.57 |
| 10/11/18 | 25,052.83 | -545.91 | -1,405.48 |
| 10/12/18 | 25,339.99 | +287.16 | -1,118.32 |
| 10/15/18 | 25,250.55 | -89.44 | -1,207.76 |
| 10/16/18 | 25,798.42 | +547.87 | -659.89 |
| 10/17/18 | 25,706.68 | -91.74 | -751.63 |
| 10/18/18 | 25,379.45 | -327.23 | -1,078.86 |
| 10/19/18 | 25,444.34 | +64.89 | -1,013.97 |
| 10/22/18 | 25,317.41 | -126.93 | -1,140.90 |
| 10/23/18 | 25,191.43 | -125.98 | -1,265.88 |
| 10/24/18 | 24,583.42 | -608.01 | -1,873.89 |
| 10/25/18 | 24,984.55 | +401.13 | -1,472.76 |
| 10/26/18 | 24,688.31 | -296.24 | -1,769.00 |
| 10/29/18 | 24,442.92 | -245.39 | -2,014.39 |
At the Close, Monday, October 29, 2018:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 24,442.92, -245.39 (-0.99%)
NASDAQ: 7,050.29, -116.92 (-1.63%)
S&P 500: 2,641.25, -17.44 (-0.66%)
NYSE Composite: 11,942.15, -34.79 (-0.29%)
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