Today was a complete wipeout. The Dow lost 678.91 points. We just broke through 10,000 on Monday, and now we're at 8,579.19. In two weeks, the S&P 500 is off by 25%. This is close to 1987 but instead of day one, it's happened over ten. Over the last seven days, the U.S. stock market has lost $2.5 trillion.

The big news today was that General Motors' (GM) stock plunged as S&P put it on credit watch negative. The stock dropped from $6.91 to $4.76 a share, and the shares are now at a 58-year low. The company actually has a smaller market value than it did in 1929. Of course, since GM is a Dow component, the rout had a major effect across the board.

What we're seeing is indiscriminate selling. It's not about economics anymore, it's psychology. Nearly every stock on every exchange fell lower today. There's simply a fear-based mania going on that's heading near its conclusion. I can't say exactly when that will happen, but I suspect that it's very soon. For example, the market has historically dropped about 34% before a recovery starts. That's about where we are now.

I should add that it wasn't a complete disaster for our stocks. I'll give you one small example: Buckle (BKE), which is a new buy in Emerging Growth, reported very good sales for September. Same-store sales were up 19.7%, and the stock gained 65 cents on the day.

Now let's look at what lies ahead. Frankly, getting the election behind us will be a big help. There's a lot of uncertainty and that's what the market hates most. We may catch a breather and stabilize once earnings season gets going. Also, Wall Street expects the Fed to cut again rates at the end of the month, so that will be an important event.

Longer-term, there's a big risk of deflation and the U.S. behaving like Japan. Near-term, the silver lining is still food and energy, but that may shift sometime in 2009. As I've said before, there's lots of cash waiting to jump back in the market. What it needs, however, is a spark to get going.

One spark could come tomorrow morning when the president plans a national address on the economy. I don't expect any major announcement from president, but he may reassure Americans that there's no reason to panic. I'll post his address on the blog tomorrow.