YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The stock market extended its downtrend with another high volume selloff in the face of the second straight rally by they euro.

A negative tone permeated trade for the entire session, such that any attempts to trim losses were checked. In turn, the path of least resistance was downward. That left 99% of the S&P 500 to fall to a loss -- MasterCard (MA 205.50, +3.08) was one of the few names that made it out of the session unscathed.

Such widespread weakness not only left the stock market to close below its 200-day moving average for the first time since July 2009, but it also resulted in the stock market's worst single-session slide in more than one year. The S&P 500 is now down more than 10% from both its 52-week intraday high of nearly 1220 and its 52-week closing high of 1217, both of which were logged in late April. That marks the stock market first official correction since its surge from its multiyear low in March 2009. 

Though this session's selloff was the worst in over a year, the S&P 500 is still six points above the lows that were set during the "flash crash" exactly two weeks ago.

With uncertainty wreaking havoc on trade, the Volatility Index spiked nearly 30% to a new 52-week high.

The action also brought in participants from the sidelines. In turn, trading volume on the NYSE surpassed 2 billion shares. Volume on the Big Board has averaged roughly 1.2 billion shares during the course of the past 50 days has averaged almost 1.3 billion shares per session. Part of the above-normal trading volume is owed to an increase in options activity ahead of tomorrow's options-expiration session.

The stock market's high-volume, high-volatility dive this session came without regard for a rally by the euro. Relative to the dollar, the euro had started the session in the red after it recorded a 1.5% gain against the dollar during the prior session. However, the euro swung to a gain of more than 1% amid speculation about an intervention into the currency by the European Central Bank. The euro eased back a bit and was quoted with a 0.6% gain against the greenback after the close.

Commodities were smacked with another round of stiff selling, such that the CRB Commodity Index fell another 1.0% to log its fifth loss in six sessions. During that time the CRB has surrendered more than 6%.

The CRB has been largely hampered by a steep and steady descent in oil prices. Oil prices have fallen more than 25% from their May high. In the latest round of pit trade, the July contract, which became the official front month contract upon the close of pit trade, quoted oil with a 2.4% loss at $70.75 per barrel.

Natural gas prices fell to a 1.2% loss at $4.11 per MMBtu after they failed to sustain modest gains that followed news of a slightly larger-than-expected weekly inventory build of 76 bcf.

Precious metals continued their pullback. As such, gold prices fell to a 0.3% loss to close pit trade at $1188.60 per ounce, while silver prices settled with a 1.4% loss at $19.23 per ounce.

Other headlines failed to have any positive influence over trade. News that a Wall Street Reform Bill will go to a floor vote was met with some frustration by market pundits and economic data generally disappointed as initial jobless claims for the week ended May 15 climbed 25,000 to 471,000, which was higher than many had expected. Continuing claims came in at 4.63 million to top what had been widely expected.

Leading economic indicators for April showed a 0.1% decline when a 0.2% increase had been expected. Leading indicators for the prior month showed a 1.3% increase.

The Philadelphia Fed Index for May came in at 21.4, which was up slightly from 20.7 in the prior month. Treasuries benefited considerably from this session's action. As such, the benchmark 10-year Note spiked more than one point to cut its yield to levels not seen since last November.

Advancing Sectors: (None)
Declining Sectors: Financials (-4.7%), Industrials (-4.6%), Energy (-4.4%), Materials (-4.4%), Consumer Discretionary (-3.8%), Tech (-3.6%), Health Care (-3.4%), Consumer Staples (-3.2%), Utilities (-3.2%), Telecom (-2.7%) DJ30 -376.36 NASDAQ -94.36 NQ100 -3.9% R2K -5.1% SP400 -4.3% SP500 -43.46 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 221/3.31 bln/2524 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 160/2.12 bln/2983