Market Wrap-Up

The post-Election Day selloff continued Thursday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 443 points to close at 8,696.

But while some traders are definitely worried about the prospect of an Obama administration -- especially when it comes to taxes -- Thursday's dip can be squarely chalked up to another round of bad economic news. Jobless claims continue to inch up and will probably play a major part in trading Friday when the October unemployment figure comes out. Disappointing monthly sales from prominent retailers like J.C. Penney (JCP), Nordstrom (JWN) and the Gap (GPS) show that cash-strapped consumers are definitely cutting back on discretionary purchases. (Wal-Mart (WMT), though, managed to show a small increase in sales.)

In addition, the shares of Detroit auto makers continued their slump, even as company chief executives headed to Capitol Hill to ask about a possible rescue package. Overnight, markets across the globe moved lower, despite an unexpected 1.5 percentage point cut in a key interest rate in the United Kingdom. Traders got a fresh round of bad corporate news from companies like Cisco (CSCO), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), and Blackstone (BX).

Meanwhile, oil once again sold off over concerns that an economic slowdown would hurt demand. At one point it touched a 19-month low. The price of a barrel of crude oil dropped over $4 to $61.

Winners

Traders are still taking a skeptical eye toward financials. The ProShares UltraShort Financials fund (SKF) dropped 12.5% Thursday.

Losers

It was a tough session for solar ETFs. Traders don't disagree that this industry will probably benefit from a Democratic administration. But the ETFs have been trading at pricey multiples and there is concern that overseas sales will be impacted by a strengthening dollar and cut backs in government subsidies. The drop in oil has also hurt these funds. The Market Vectors Solar Energy (KWT) and the Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy (TAN) ETFs lost 11.1% and 11.8%, respectively.

Thursday's Industry Headlines

Launching Pad
Direxion announced a series of short/leveraged ETFs that try to replicate three times the results (or inverse results for the short ETFs) of their underlying benchmarks.

Data Point
IShares came out with its monthly report on the ETF industry. One interesting stat: As mutual funds experienced outflows, ETFs actually saw a net $56.4 billion flow into their coffers.

Friday's Notebook
Look for the October unemployment figure to weigh heavy on trading.

Earnings & Conference Calls
Calpine, Constellation Energy, Crosstex Energy, Edison International, Ford, Mirant, Reliant, Sprint Nextel, EW Scripps, Trump Entertainment Resorts, Westar Energy

Economic Data
8:30a.m. Oct. Nonfarm Payrolls
8:30a.m. Oct. Unemployment Rate
10:00a.m. Sept. Wholesale Trade
3:00p.m. Sept. Pending Home Sales
3:00p.m. Sept. Consumer Credit

Quick Take

A look at how the industry's most popular ETFs did on Thursday.