By: Dennis Hobein.

Contributor, Stock Traders Daily

(La Jolla, CA) As the calendar turns to October -- a month commonly known for its volatility – the stock market has gotten off to a very rough start in the fourth quarter as each of the major averages are posting sharp losses. To emphasize just how broad today’s sell-off has been, the market internals show that nearly 95% of all the companies within the S&P 500 are in the red. Large-cap tech names have been a laggards all day, with the PowerShares ETF (NASDAQ: QQQQ), which corresponds to the Nasdaq 100, is off nearly 2.5%.

There has been a fairly overwhelming amount of news and data out today, making it difficult to pinpoint one catalyst for the fall. However, generally speaking, today’s economic data releases have been less than encouraging, as jobless claims and the ISM Manufacturing Index both came in worse than Wall Street expectations. Adding fuel to the fire were some ugly monthly car sales numbers from General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Chrysler (Ford showed a more modest decline of 5%), some bearish commodity inventory data, and commentary from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke that did little to excite the market.

Today’s decisive sell-off has not spared any major sector, but financials in particular have been hammered. The ProShares Ultra Financial ETF (NYSE: UYG) is down a whopping 5.5%. The story within the large-cap financial arena today has been that Bank of America’s (NYSE: BAC) embattled CEO and President, Ken Lewis, has decided to step down from the company. Although this news unlikely had little to do with the weakness in the sector, it doesn’t particularly exude confidence that the country’s largest bank is restoring its credibility. Another area of notable weakness has been precious metals as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke offered supportive commentary regarding the future of the dollar today. The dollar and precious metals typically move inversely to each other. The Powershares Precious Metal Fund (NYSE: DBP) has shed about a percent.

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s session, the calendar isn’t nearly as busy, but there are events to keep your eye on, including the unemployment rate – expected to be 9.8% -- as well as factory orders. Should this data also disappoint, the S&P 500 may find itself testing its support levels again.  These have been provided to clients of Stock Traders Daily and may adjust over time. All in all, it has been somewhat of a head-spinning start to October, and with third quarter earnings on the horizon, look for volatility to continue.