The stock market has been on a bit of a roller-coaster ride today with a mostly downside orientation.  The lack of buy-the-dip conviction has been disappointing and invited follow-through selling efforts that had the Dow Jones Industrial Average down nearly 700 points, or 2.7%, and the S&P 500 down 75 points, or 2.7%, less than an hour ago.

The major indices are in the midst of an upswing aided by a comeback effort in the information technology (-0.04%) and communication services sectors (+0.07%), which had rolled over and were sporting 1.0%+ losses a short time ago.

Overall, it has been a trade of attrition today as the major indices never established enough upside traction to draw back the buying masses. 

There was a potential catalyst, too, with the drop in long-term Treasury rates (10-yr -9 bps to 3.13%), yet the strength in Treasuries today is jumping out as defensive positioning trade more so than a rallying point for a weak stock market, which remains skittish about the follow-through selling in momentum stocks and the specter of downward revisions to earnings growth estimates. 

Technical factors also remain at work, as the violation of the S&P 500's 200-day moving average (2765.97) has been viewed as a negative development that could potentially open the door to further downside pressure in the near term, particularly if the guidance out of third quarter reporting period fails to live up to hopeful expectations.

The Nasdaq Composite is down 0.3%; the S&P 500 is down 1.0%; the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 1.1%; and the Russell 2000 is down 1.3%

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