Optimism has given way to pessimism. Trading volume has dried up. Buyers have disappeared. Suddenly, valuations and rising interest rates matter. Good news is ignored.
Bad news is magnified.
A valid concern, considering how common days like Tuesday have become. Minus the uncertainty over the direction of interest rates, the decline lacked a clear catalyst. Alan Greenspan is driving the bus,'' says fund manager Louis Navellier. The ''flu shots,'' in the form of interest rate hikes, that the Fed has given the economy to keep it from overheating are now starting to look like lethal injections to some analysts. Bulls once argued that ''new economy'' stocks were immune to rate hikes.