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Stock Rout Resumes As Market Suffers Big Losses; This Restaurant Play Soars

An encouraging reversal two days ago evaporated quickly as the major indexes closed with sharp declines and near session lows Thursday.

X  The Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 4.2%. American Express (AXP), Caterpillar (CAT), General Electric (GE) and Intel (INTC) were each down about 4%, erasing most of the rebounds from earlier in the week.

The S&P 500 slid 3.8% and the Nasdaq composite 3.9%, and both undercut the lows made on Tuesday. Volume was higher than Wednesday's levels, according to early figures. Declining stocks led advancers by nearly 7-to-1 on the NYSE and by 4-to-1 on the Nasdaq.

No doubt, sellers are still in firm control of Wall Street. Tuesday's positive reversal had the makings of a longer rebound. Instead, stocks have run into a wall of selling as the Nasdaq and S&P 500 met resistance near their 50-day moving averages.

The chip-equipment industry group was roiled for a loss of nearly 7%. Auto, oil, biotech and other semiconductor groups also saw sharp losses, as only about a dozen of 197 groups were higher in today's market.

The 10-year Treasury yield jumped all the way back to 2.88%, within a whisker of last week's four-year high, before easing to 2.85% Thursday afternoon. One factor affecting yields is a spike in government debt.

Many top-rated stocks tumbled, and some showed serious damage on their charts, such as breaks of support at the 50-day moving average.

Yelp (YELP) gapped down to a loss of 14% in big volume, undercutting a base it had been forming since November. The company beat expectations for adjusted earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter, but still sold off.

Coherent (COHR) gapped down to the lowest price since last April in huge volume. The company posted better-than-expected December-quarter results, but its outlook disappointed.

Grubhub (GRUB) was one of the few standouts Thursday. The stock soared 27% after the company beat expectations and announced a deal to be the exclusive online delivery service for Yum Brands' (YUM) Taco Bell and KFC chains.

Grubhub helped brake the IBD 50's loss. Innovator IBD 50 Fund (FFTY), an ETF that tracks the IBD 50, closed more than 4.7% lower.

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