Market Wrap-Up

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson held a press conference to explain some changes to the government's $700 billion bailout plan. The biggest revelation was that the so-called TARP would cease buying bad mortgage-related debt from the nation's ailing financial-services companies. This seemed like a 180-degree change from what the TARP was originally designed to do. And it also seemed like the market didn't like what it heard. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 409 points to 8,284.

Paulson's comments weren't the only things weighing heavily on trading. There was more spotty news out of the retail sector. Macy's (M) swung to a loss in the recently-closed quarter. Best Buy (BBY) announced same-store sales in October fell 7.6% and its chief executive officer added the recent economic environment was one of the worst he has ever seen for retailers. News from the housing industry continued to show weakness. Zillow.com said home prices decreased 9.7% nationwide in the third quarter, the seventh straight quarter of declines. Financial services had a tough session, too. General Electric (GE) slid 8.8% after it announced its finance arm received government assistance. American Express (AXP) also lost ground after it said it was looking for $3.5 billion in aid.

Wednesday the price of oil continued its downward move. Traders have been bailing on black gold over concerns a slowing economy both here in the U.S. and abroad will lead to a drop off in demand. Oil finished the session under $56, down almost $4 from the previous session.

Winners

Direxion recently launched short and leveraged ETFs that try to post three-times the returns of their underlying benchmarks. Admittedly, these funds are for aggressive investors and early indications are that they like them. The Direxion Financial Bear 3X Share (FAZ) gained 17.4% and enjoyed relatively heavy trading for a new ETF.

Losers

Chinese solar company JA Solar (JASO), whose shares trade on the Nasdaq here in the states, announced a loss today and cut its guidance going forward. The news not only sent shares of the company's stock 29% lower, it also renewed concerns about the viability of this industry during a slow growth atmosphere. JA Solar, a component of Market Vectors Solar Energy (KWT) and Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy (TAN) helped those two ETFs drop 17.5% and 15.9%, respectively.

Wednesday's Industry Headlines

Launching Pad
RevenueShares, a company that specializes in creating ETFs that track indexes based on revenues, announced it was launching the RevenueShares Financials Sector fund. The ETF will weight by revenue the components of the S&P 500 financials index.

Thursday's Notebook

Earnings & Conference Calls
Dr. Pepper Snapple, Fortress Investment Group, Kohls, Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters, Wal-Mart

Economic Data
8:30a.m. Initial Jobless Claims
8:30a.m. Sept. Trade Balance
10:00a.m. DJ-BTMU Business Barometer

Quick Take

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