Listless down day on weak econ data awaiting rescue vote

Small-cap stocks started off the day in negative territory and were never able to recover, even though large-cap stocks pared losses significantly from the intraday lows. Anxiety over the latest version of the financial rescue plan, soft economic data, sluggish consumer, technology and commodity stocks weighed down the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM), which slipped 7.99, or 1.18%, to 671.59. For the year, the Russell is down 12.3%, while the Dow is off 18.3% and the S&P 500 is down 20.9%.

The Senate is slated to vote later this evening on a new version of the $700 billion bailout plan, with additions to bank deposits that are insured and tax breaks. There is a strong sense among market watchers that some version of a rescue plan will be approved —  probably as soon as this weekend — but there are also growing fears that the bailout alone won’t fix all the economic ails facing not just America, but also the world.

General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) plunged after the bell this morning following analyst downgrades overnight. GE is seen as a bellwether for the economy, and when that company is struggling, it can create a downward ripple throughout industrial and consumer stocks. However, after billionaire investor Warren Buffett said he planned to invest $3 billion in GE, the stock did rally off the lows. For the day, GE was off about 4%.

Most of the recent twists and turns in the stock market have been tied to the massive proposed bailout plan, but today economic data started to make a dent in the investor psyche — perhaps stirred by the realization that the big jobs report comes out Friday morning. An early take on the employment situation from private surveys didn’t exactly paint a great picture. Even though the ADP Employment survey was on the low side of the forecast, a report on layoffs by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. showed a 7.2% jump in layoffs last month and a rate that was 33% above year-ago levels. What’s more, analysts at Challenger said that layoffs in the financial sector . . .

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