No question that today was an ugly day. Despite the point drops in the hundreds, keep in mind that the percentage drops are not so awful sounding, 3.29% on the SP500, 3.15% on the Dow, 4.08% on the NASDAQ. What is noteworthy is that support did not hold and when it failed the selling intensified. This is how markets used to operate- pre-2009 quantitative easing, TARP, TALF etc.
Also, in the past weeks, we have seen large % drops in any company which issued disappointing news in prior market times.
It feels like a delayed reaction to: the fast pace of U.S. interest rate increases, slowing growth in some other countries, the fallout from trade frictions which were previously ignored and the recognition that growth cannot stay this strong. What it does NOT feel like at this time is the beginning of something worse although we could drop some more before stabilizing.
Also, although it took hours to happen bonds have rallied( rates have fallen) in a ‘flight to quality’ and further delaying any possible interest rate breakout up further. We are overdue for a correction and this one remains small for now and reflects the transition from low rates/ slow growth to higher rates/ higher U.S. growth. We have continued to rebalance portfolios into safer/better investments at the margin before today.