Equities Close
Equities finished the day significantly lower with Dow futures down 1.4% to 11503, S&P futures falling 1.4% to 1282 and Nasdaq futures tumbling 1.1% to 1944.
S&P futures started selling off at the open and never looked back. S&Ps hit a low of 1274 late in the day but month-long trendline support held. After testing support again, S&Ps rallied into the close to pare its losses.
All sectors in the S&P500 finished negative, with Financials losing 3.7%. Freddie Mac plunged 25% and Fannie Mae dropped 22%. Investment banks were also hard hit with Lehman falling 7% and Morgan Stanley shedding 6%.
July PPI will be released at 8:30am EDT with expectations of increases of 0.6% for headline m-o-m, 0.2% for core m-o-m, 9.3% for headline y-o-y and 3.2% for core y-o-y. Also at 8:30am, July Housing Starts are expected at 960k with Building Permits forecast at 970k. Johnson Redbook Retail Sales will be released at 8:55am. At 10am, Dallas FED President Fisher talks about the economic outlook in Colorado and Treasury Secretary Paulson speaks on a conference call at 11:15am.