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Stock Sell-Off Defies Everything the Bulls Hoped Would Stop It

Technical support joins the lengthening list of false saviors
Computer and software stocks drop to a forward P/E ratio of 15

Pedestrians walk past the New York Stock Exchange in New York, U.S. — Pedestrians walk past the New York Stock Exchange in New York, U.S.
Photographer: John Taggart/Bloomberg

By

Vildana Hajric and

December 17, 2018, 11:04 PM UTCUpdated onDecember 18, 2018, 5:54 AM UTC

Valuations aren’t stopping it. Jerome Powell’s softer tone failed to soothe anyone. The moratorium on tariffs is a fading memory and now the sturdiest chart level of the year is in danger of giving way.

A stock rout that bulls thought was finished three different times since October is in a new and ominous phase, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 1,004 points in two days. No Santa Claus rally. Instead, the S&P 500 Index is hurtling toward the second-worst December on record.