It is pretty rare to hear booing at the close, but I guess it was appropriate. I don’t think the traditional clapping and cheers on the bell were from bears, but more a relief that the day is over. I’ll be spending some time going over the market internals tonight because it hasn’t been this devastating since 9-11. Down versus Up volume, decliners versus advancers, etc. will be worth studying.

I am booing today as well. But I am booing at financial media and commentators that are busy saying stupid stuff. Many of these guys have been silent for months about the risks in this market and now they are giving advice on how to handle today’s selloff!?! Others are still spewing their happy horseshit like nothing happened and want you to rush out and buy stocks tomorrow. Listen to yourself and please ignore stupid people trying to sound smart.

Huge amounts of capital have flowed out of US equities and into foreign stocks. That happened for the last several weeks and months, not just today. So I really doubt that China and emerging markets had a one-day flu and that tomorrow will be back to normal. My guess is that a lot of US investors are questioning their recent decisions to chase returns in international equities with mutual funds and ETFs. If they decide to change their mind, it will get much uglier.

I’ll be watching Asian markets until I cannot take it anymore tonight. Chinese investors are mostly retail (not institutional) and they do not have experience with a market going down so I’ll be tuning in to see how they handle the pressure. It’s possible that the Chinese government might intervene in some way but China is not the only market to worry about.