We won't go into macro stuff and evaluate the man's words.   We've never been about that and won't start today.  Better to maybe understand what you might have done wrong and why you didn't do something else, so you and your stock avoid a visit to the woodshed again.  The headlines hit around 10am and everything started to slide on the Nasdaq.  Bernanke squealed long and hard and Bartiromo, the Disco Queen wasn't pushing his buttons this time.  The excerpts, headlines ran like a riot act.  You could wait and see how it plays it out or you can start selling.  Last night, we mentioned sooner than later the market always catches up to something you hold that you think is invincible,  it could be a breakout while the market slides like HMIN yesterday or it could be like today where they start falling one by one as the day progresses.  We don't wait till someone taps us on the shoulder with a big sell order to set off our hold downwards.   We were quite hesitant in last nights Journal on our usual plays, probably got lucky to be pretty thin this morning, yet even if we were heavy into some names....we would have been doing the same and that is sell down fast to avoid any possibility of a bloodbath.   This means not only plays that are seeing red but ones that are green as it could only be a matter of time before the green is the next red.   What we remind ourselves is this is really week one of earnings and there will be new plays to use up the cash we are mostly sitting in now.   In the meantime... with care we look for a new play during the day.  USAP, mentioned last Q a few times on DJIM, produced another big Q and we took a small position.   MEND took a second stab at $22 this week and this time succeeded with a push to $23.   Nothing too exciting but not everything is a HOKU..lol.    So, if a visit to the woodshed was had,  it's probably because some greed played a part in your not taking profits recently, maybe as recently as this morning as the tide turned quick.  Nothing like a look back at a chart now and seeing that resistance that was right in your face you pretended was not there the last few days or the support you thought would hold because .....well, because you own the stock and it just can't break!....  Ah love! .   Stay light, stay small is what we're sticking to at the moment.   Maybe there will be a Friday morning EPS special to put some cash to work,  it's definitely not going IBM's way....If you got nicked, its best its only January 18th..plenty of time to turn it around!