Dip Buyers Nowhere To Be Found During Wednesday's Decline

Hickey and Walters (Bespoke) submit: The dip buyers were no where to be found Wednesday, as the market slid slowly lower all day before accelerating to the downside towards the close. The decline was not spread out evenly though. While energy and utilities were down over 2.5%, consumer related sectors were down less than 1%. The relative strength of the consumer sectors is somewhat surprising as it came on a day when fears were raised over the housing slowdown and its continued impact on the mortgage market.

The financial sector fell one percent in the final hour of trading on concerns that the trouble at Bear Stearns' (BSC) sub-prime mortgage hedge fund will spread to other funds.

click to enlarge