Hanging onto support becomes increasingly difficult for an S&P 500 that is lacking in leadership, unable to get much going with rebounds or favorable responses to big-cap earnings (typically sold into), and the market is in an increasingly perilous posture regarding the possibility of taking out recent lows.

Technically . .

I have highlighted the underlying 'vacuum' beneath the September lows (we got very close again twice in the last few days) that in my humble opinion should not be a comforting picture for any money manager to look at, especially those that are locked in heavily long or not easily 'pliable' portfolios. Some can hedge, some rearrange, while a slew of others are complacently rationalizing since they are stuck while unable to be as candid perhaps, as eye-opening Fed Vice Chairman's remarks yesterday would imply one should be.

Late today (while the S&P was already unwinding earlier gains); Vice Presidential candidate Tim Kaine talked about raising minimum wages, doing things about drug costs and perhaps the one that opened eyes in New York, increasing regulations on Wall Street. The proposals he's talking about regarding infrastructure and other improvements have a bipartisan view, and is something I've called for for a long time, presuming it is orchestrated in a proper way where (for once) it's not just code for more spending (and political payoffs for particular politicians). Kaine by the way also called for 'keeping' the Estate Tax, which is unwelcome to many.

Fiscal stimulus does require spending and there are creative ways to do it. There is obvious need to train workers in 'modern' jobs (which has not been adequately done by present governance). This is part of overall citizen frustration with an approach too prevalent by both parties.

Bottom-line:

The market consumed too much money while both discretionary item consumption and consumer sentiment have rolled-over.

So now whether it's the FANG stocks (aside the snap back in Netflix NFLX on global hopes, mostly) or the drug stocks or the Nike NKE and Starbucks SBUX, which are flagships of the preceding market, it's all long-in-the-tooth. Late today a good report from Intel INTC (which I'm hopeful will expand it's relationship in the future with Apple AAPL, as I've hinted in the past) was greeted with heavy selling (my view remains that if the market does plunge big-time, Intel's a decent candidate for purchase then, not now. It needed to correct, and today's post-news drop is indicative of the start of such a trend).

Most of the stocks that outperformed the market (including the above) have been slowly deteriorating for weeks if not months, and others are not higher than as far back as a year ago. That's a loss of leadership. A focus on the few that still have growth is a dangerous concentration by money managers into a narrower universe of 'what works' stocks, and that in and of itself is a bearish harbinger of rollovers to come.