This is a real tough day that would unnerved the most steadfast of traders.  A series of sure bad news and not so bad news.

The day start with the Factories Order index which grew 0.6% in May 08 which was slow but still not that bad leading to a small rise in Dow Jones which fluctuates a lot between positive and negative terrority.   Some excitement over potential Yahoo and Microsoft deal did help the Nasdaq a bit.

However the excitement was short lived as we had bad news one after another

• GM, the grand dame of car manufacturing fell to the lowest in 54 years having single digit prices no thanks to rumors on its liquidity crunch
• Oil breaking yet another record at $144, this adds on to the tiny growth of the factories orders and more or less erase all gains.

Share prices held for a while before plunging at 166.75 it was sure a blood bath considering that Dow Jones can break 11 000 with another one or two bad hair days.   Considering 4 Jul is Independence Day I would doubt investors would be keen to take positions on Thu.  I guess the 11 000 may be broken even on Thu if such sentiments persisted especially if crude oil remains at such or higher levels.