Washington Mutual added to the jitters after it warned of a
bigger-than-expected quarterly loss.

On the economic front, pending homes sales fell to a record low in
February, according to an industry trade group.

Investors have something new to worry about - corporate profits.  Alcoa
kicked-off the first quarter reporting season by missing profit targets, but
beating revenue forecasts.  The aluminum giant blamed higher energy costs and
a weaker dollar for slashing its quarterly profit in half. 

Advanced Micro Devices added to jitters. The world's No. 2 chip maker
guided sales estimates lower and said it was cutting 10 percent of its
workforce......

And Washington Mutual is also in the mix. America's largest savings and
loan warned of a bigger than expected quarterly loss, a cut to its dividend,
and a round of job losses tied to the mortgage industry. The bad news
overshadowed WaMu's larger-than-expected $7 billion cash infusion from a group
led by private equity firm TPG.

Judging from the early signs this earnings season is not expected to be a
pretty one.  According to Reuters Estimates aggregate earnings for companies
in the S&P 500 are expected to fall 11.8 percent, last week that number
stood at 8.1 percent. And compares to the 8.6 percent rise seen the same
period a year ago.

There was an absence of good news on the economic front - as well....a
measure of future home sales fell to its lowest reading on record. The
bigger-than-expected fall in so-called pending home sales suggests the housing
market has not yet hit bottom.

Conway Gittens, Reuters