Consumers Can't Carry the Load Anymore

The end of the month and quarter provided little respite for stocks. In fact, quite the opposite early Monday as stocks tumbled precipitously at the opening bell and were struggling to recover at midday.

As of 2:06 p.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1% to 7626.33 after having traded as low as 7460.78, below its July 24 intraday low of 7532.66. Elsewhere, the S&P 500 was down 1.1% to 818.44 after having traded as low as 800.20, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.6% to 1180.13 vs. its early low of 1160.07. ...