I wouldn't discount the effect of the S&P downgrade on these stocks. The downgrade led investors to flee from risky assets to more secure assets. Counterintuiti

I wouldn't discount the effect of the S&P downgrade on these stocks. The downgrade led investors to flee from risky assets to more secure assets. Counterintuitively, this is causing the price of short-term Treasuries to go up, since they are still viewed as relatively safe investments and constitute one of the largest and most liquid bond markets in the world. The S&P downgrade puts more pressure on the U.S. government to raise taxes and/or take austerity measures in the near future, and that partially accounts for the plummeting price in stocks today, with the riskiest stocks taking the biggest hit.