The CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) is up 1.24 to session highs of 22.45 as stocks faltered heading into the closing bell. The Dow Jones Industrials have given back 200 of the two-day 450-point rally. The stage was set for some early morning selling after the GDP data came in short of economist forecasts and the latest weekly jobless claims report showed a big uptick in lost jobs heading into Friday’s key payroll data. Merger news from the biotech sector and another slide in crude oil (down $2.77 to $124.00 a barrel) failed to give investor sentiment much of lift midday. Then things unraveled during the final hour of trade. Consequently, although the NASDAQ sits little changed on the day, the Dow and S&P are sporting sizeable losses. Bonds are higher for a second day, with the benchmark ten-year Treasury running higher on this morning’s poor data. The ten-year is up nearly a point, bringing its yield back down to 3.98 percent. The buck faltered, back towards 1.56 on the euro and 107.84 on the yen. Meanwhile, the bid returned to gold, where the price of an ounce rose $11.6 to $914.50.