Fleck is recommending several tech companies as short sale candicates, including RIMM, TXN, DELL, AAPL, INTC.

Merrill Lynch’s David Rosenberg notes the first month-to-month decline in outstanding consumer credit since Nov-Dec 1991, portending a poor holiday shopping season if the trend continues. Consumer credit declined $1.2bil in September, which was only the second monthly decline in 13 years!

AN and SD Realtor, every housing start decline of more than 20% led to a recession (except 2 times, Vietnam and Korean War), and the average S&P500 drop is 28.5% in a recession. I don’t know if any industries are exempt. It would be interesting for either of you to check into this, if you have time. Did health care or tech stocks drop less than other stocks in past recessions?

Roubini: “The fall in the stock market from the peak of the business cycle to the market lowest level in the recession was 21.0% in the 1970 recession, 33.88% in the 1974-75 recession, 10.6% in the 1980 recession, 18.2% in the 1981-82 recession, 14.6% in the 1990 recession, 10.3% in the 2001 recession….savvy investors will …adjust their portfolio to reduce the risk of being stuck in a bear market when the recession actually gets under way.”