wipeout surfer wave down
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Despite the sell-off, stocks are still near multi-year highs.
First the scoreboard:
Dow: 13,554, -39.5, -0.2%

S&P 500: 1,461, -4.7, -0.3%

NASDAQ: 3,178, -5.1, -0.1%
And now the top stories:
  • Volume was low with many traders and investors taking the day off to observe Rosh Hashanah.  Art Cashin noted that a popular seasonal trade is to sell stocks on Rosh Hashanah and then buy them back on Yom Kippur.  Since 1999, that trade would've saved you an average of 1.3 percent.

  • Despite today's sell-off, the U.S. stock market is one of the few global indices that are just a few percentage points from their all time highs.

  • We had one major economic data point and it was ugly.  The Empire Fed manufacturing index fell to -10.41 from last month's -5.85 reading.  Economists were looking for an improvement to -2.00.  The weak global economy caused the new orders index to tank.  

  • Apple had a strong day today after it was revealed that iPhone 5 pre-orders topped 2 million on the first day, which was twice as strong as the first day's orders for iPhone 4S.  Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster thinks Apple sold no less than 6 million iPhone 5s during the opening weekend.

  • Oil prices became extremely volatile minutes before settling.  Rumors flew that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was being tapped.  But the White House quickly quelled that one.  It remains unclear what exactly happened.  It is, however, worth noting that inflation bets like gold and the 5-year breakeven spread went south today.