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Shocked traders awoke to find S&P 500 threatening the biggest decline since August's dog days, recently pared to 0.5 per cent. Weighed down by Apple, Nasdaq 100 futures are pointing to a bigger drop and the first back-to-back retreat in almost a month.

Among catalysts were Apple's 1.7-per-cent pre-market drop after a Taiwan newspaper said orders for iPhone 8 models had been cut; a warning by People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan about excessive optimism that could mean trouble for asset prices; the deployment of constitutional powers by Spain to squelch the Catalan separatist movement; and a tumble in Hong Kong shares exacerbated by losses in leveraged structured products.

Oh, and it's also the 30th anniversary of the Crash of 1987. Here's what market professionals are saying:

Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at Lindsey Group.

"I couldn't believe my eyes this morning when I saw the S&P futures down double digits. It's refreshing to hear a central banker actually warn about the risks of excessive credit growth that cheap money perpetuates. The question from here for the Chinese economy is whether they get serious with needed deleveraging at the risk of slowing growth or will they continue on the hamster wheel of constant stimulus in order to reach some made up GDP growth figure."

Andrew Brenner, head of international fixed income at Natalliance Securities

"There is a nervousness in the markets and a mild risk off trading. We doubt this is the beginning of anything, but given it is happening a day before the anniversary of the 1987 crash, it may get more press than it deserves. But we remind investors that the up moves we have seen in equities recently are coming with low volumes, not a convincing play."

Ian Winer, director of equities at Wedbush Securities Inc.

"The bulls are in full control of the market, and until they lose control of this market, they are going to turn a blind eye on any warning signs. Do we see any nervousness in the market? Yes. Will there be a major selloff as a result of that? Probably not. But there's no question we are in a bubble. It will be useful to watch what index funds do. If you see investors pulling money from the funds, the funds will be selling the likes of Amazon and Apple indiscriminately. "

Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Leuthold Group LLC.

"It's hard to see a lot of things beyond the fact that it's just not coincidentally the 30th anniversary, and I just wonder if traders all day long, there will be people and the media taking about great crash of '87. We're talking about a half a percent decline on the futures this morning. I had the same reaction when I got out of bed this morning. Pull out your phone and there it is -- whoa! I mean it's kind of amazing how upset you can get about what would ordinarily be a nonevent. I think that shows how antsy we are and as the days goes on how many times we're going to hear about the great crash. All in all, even tech it came off a great deal yesterday with IBM but I don't think that Apple news is that big a deal relative to what else is going on in the tech arena"

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