Nasdaq Gets The Pile-Driver

This afternoon, the major stock indexes are plummeting sharply lower. The catalyst for the decline is obviously the failure of Washington coming to some debt ceiling resolution. At this point, it really does not matter if the debt ceiling gets raised or not, it really comes down to knowing what the politicians are really going to do. It will help if the Republicans simply come out and say the debt ceiling will not be raised, period. This action would help to strengthen the U.S. Dollar and allow the government to get its financial house in order. This back and forth between both parties just makes for a lot uncertainty and that is what traders and investors hate the most. Often the big declines that occur during these big political deals are simply a way to scare the politicians into doing a deal. The U.S. government takes in about $250 billion a month at this time. This is more than enough money to cover its financial debt obligations. The items that it cannot cover should simply be cut because the country simply can't afford it. Eventually the country has to get their financial house in order or it will become another Greece, Italy, or Spain. Sure, the U.S. can simply borrow more printed money from the Federal Reserve, but just look at where that strategy has gotten us. High energy and food prices are just a fraction of the price that the people have to pay when cash is created out of thin air by the central bank. Gold and silver are the central banks worst nightmare. The recent increase in these precious metals was due to the failure of the European Union and the U.S. Dollar. Today, the U.S. Dollar Index is actually trading higher on the day and gold and silver are trading lower. Why do the central banks hate the stronger dollar so much? A strong dollar policy is good for the U.S. in the long run and also good for the world. After all, the U.S. Dollar is the world's reserve currency. The Nasdaq Composite has lead the markets higher recently. Today, that tech heavy stock index is leading the major stock indexes to the downside. The Nasdaq Composite is trading lower by 2.79 percent this afternoon. This is a massive one day decline for any stock index. Leading stocks such as Google Inc.GOOG), Apple Inc.AAPL, Qualcomm Inc.QCOM, and Sandisk Corp.SNDK are plunging lower. These stocks have been stock market leaders that have all reacted well after reporting earnings, therefore, this tells us that people want out of this market until the politicians can get a debt ceiling resolution. Everyone expects the politicians to come up with some kind of deal ceiling very soon. However, it would really help a lot if the Republicans just said this is it, we are not raising the debt ceiling. All the stock market wants right now is certainty. It does not really care if the debt ceiling gets increased or not. It just wants to know that something is certain. Nicholas Santiago InTheMoneyStocks.com