Bottom Drops Out of Nasdaq

This column was originally published on RealMoney on Oct. 10 at 7:58 a.m. EDT. It's being republished as a bonus for TheStreet.com readers.

As you can see by the chart of the Nasdaq below, things aren't looking too spiffy for tech right now.

But how do things look for the rest of the market? Decidedly un-spiffy there, too.

Frankly, all the index charts look pretty much the same, so we'll focus on the NYSE as good example.

That index's uptrend line is broken, but support is holding steady.

That might allow the bulls to breathe a sigh of relief, but I get worried when support is hit abruptly and volume surges.

That's a recipe for a) a dead-cat bounce (which we've seen the start of), and b) an eventual move further down.

In other words, the trend line break looked to be the main event, and we might have to suffer through a few dreary weeks before a late fourth-quarter surge.

Today, the Nasdaq, @Road(ARDI), ValueClick(VCLK), Chesapeake(CHK), the Retail HOLDRs(RTH) and Federated(FD).

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And that is the final word from Happy Valley, Pa., where I'll be the first to admit I was on the "get rid of Joe Paterno" bandwagon.

Hey, the Lions needed some fresh thinking.

That said, I'm not too proud to hope Joe Pa has a fantastic season and brings Penn State a much-needed bowl win.

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Charts produced by TC2000, which is a registered trademark of Worden Brothers Inc.

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