Markets Dive at Opening

Wall Street opened sharply down across the board this morning, as the eventual "sideways" movement predicted by many traders since the start of the March rally may be beginning.

In the first 15 minutes of trading, the Dow is down 112 points, or about 1.3 percent.

The broader S&P 500 is down about 1.2 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down nearly 1 percent.

The markets have soared more than 30 percent since hitting their most recent bottom in early March. Because several sour economic indicators remain -- unemployment continues to rise and housing inventory is still excessive -- few have expected the rally to continue unabated.

Instead, many feel the markets will move sideways -- i.e., remain essentially flat -- for several months until the economy gets its feet under it again.

-- Frank Ahrens
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