NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks tumbled Wednesday, with the Dow losing 237 points, as investors dumped technology and financial services shares one day after a big advance.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost 238 points, or 2.1%, according to early tallies, hitting a low not seen since August 2006. The Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index lost 2.3% and closed at its lowest point since July 2006. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite (COMP) lost 2.6%, ending at its lowest point since March.

Stocks surged Tuesday, as investors welcomed falling oil prices and talk that the Federal Reserve may give banks more time to access emergency funds. But investors struggled in the aftermath of that advance Wednesday, with oil prices seesawing on Mideast tension and the weekly supply reports.

Traders appear to be consolidating Tuesday's gains amid the rise in oil prices and in anticipation of the brunt of the quarterly results reporting period, said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co.

"Traders breathed a sigh of relief after Alcoa's earnings, but there is a perception that this is going to be a weak earnings period," Dickson said.

He said that much of last month's selloff reflected the market factoring in weak second-quarter results and lowered forecasts for the third and fourth quarters.

But because most of the wringing out seems to have been done, and expectations have been lowered, selling should be limited over the next few weeks, said Dickson.

"We will continue to see companies miss estimates and the stocks get hammered, but for the most part we'll probably see companies skim across a lowered bar," he said.

The dollar slumped versus other major currencies after comments from the European Central Bank's (ECB's) president indicated that interest rates are set to rise. Bond prices rose, lowering the corresponding yields, as investors sought safety in government debt.

Stock movers: A variety of financial services stocks fell, including government lenders Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500).

Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500) slipped after Fitch put the company's long-term credit default rating on watch for a potential downgrade.

Dow financial components AIG (AIG, Fortune 500), American Express (AXP, Fortune 500), Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and JP Morgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) all tumbled.

Cisco Systems (CSCO, Fortune 500) fell 5.7% in active Nasdaq trade after two bearish analyst notes, according to published reports.

RBC Capital Markets analysts cut Cisco's price target to $27 from $29, saying the company sees a tech spending recovery happening later than initially thought. UBS said Cisco could be looking at tough sales in the United States and Europe.

Other big techs, including Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) and Dell (DELL, Fortune 500), slipped too, as investors backed out after the previous session's runup.

Northwest Airlines (NWA, Fortune 500) said it's cutting 2,500 jobs, or 7% of its workforce, as well as charging for checked bags and boosting other fees. Northwest, like the rest of the airline sector, is struggling with the spike in fuel prices. Shares fell 15.7%.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers topped winners two to one on volume of 1.43 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers by nearly five to two on volume of 2.24 billion shares.

Earnings: As is usually the case, Alcoa began the second-quarter results reporting period for Dow components late Tuesday.

The aluminum producer reported weaker earnings of 66 cents per share on lower sales of $7.6 billion, reflecting the impact of higher costs. Results, however, topped analysts' expectations. Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500) shares rose modestly Wednesday.

Arris Group (ARRS) slumped 14% after it said second-quarter sales won't meet estimates and earnings will come in at or near the low end of its previous forecast. The communications technology company cited weaker sales of voice-enabled cable modems.

On the upside, QLogic (QLGC) boosted its fiscal first-quarter sales and earnings outlook, sending shares of the maker of gear for data storage networks up 10%.

Dow component General Electric (GE, Fortune 500) reports quarterly results later this week, while the bulk of quarterly numbers are due out later in the month.

Fuel prices: Oil prices seesawed in the afternoon, with U.S. light crude oil for August delivery ending the session up a penny at $136.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. (Full story).

Crude prices had jumped in the morning on reports that Iran test-fired ballistic missiles, which revived worries that unrest in the Middle East could disrupt oil supplies. But prices swayed after the government's weekly report showed crude stockpiles fell more than expected and gasoline supplies were larger than forecast last week. Crude prices had fallen more than $9 over the last two sessions.

The national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas held steady at a record $4.108 for a third day, according to AAA. (Full story).

Other markets: In currency trading, the dollar fell versus the euro and yen after ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet's hawkish comments about inflation to the European parliament. The remarks reinforced the idea that the ECB will raise interest rates again following its hike last week.

In the bond market, Treasury prices fell, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.90% from 3.88% late Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

COMEX gold for August delivery rose $5.30 to $928.60 an ounce. 

http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/09/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?cnn=yes

You know, kivi, the best thing about Wall Streets is that you can earn money while the market is bearish.

Since it is obviously the bear market, why not short the market and get yourself some nice vacation in a nice warm beach away from the many problems around the world?

Quoting from [Thomas1976]:

You know, kivi, the best thing about Wall Streets is that you can earn money while the market is bearish.

Since it is obviously the bear market, why not short the market and get yourself some nice vacation in a nice warm beach away from the many problems around the world?

Dear Thomas,


I live in Ashdod Israel .  It is on the Sea with a beach and it is quite warm here this time of year.  I don't need to go anywhere.