U.S. stocks may be poised to drop for a third day following yesterday's disappointing results from Alcoa Inc. (AA), the first major Dow component to report this earnings season.

According to Bloomberg News, futures on the S&P 500 expiring in June decreased 0.9 percent to 806.60 at 10:50 a.m. in London, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 1% to 7,683 and Nasdaq-100 Index futures fell 0.6% to 1,273.75. Markets in Europe and Asia were also down.

The plight of the US and global economy, and how it touches everyone, has most people believing we are in for a long drawn out period of sluggish growth, and that a lot of pain is still to come. For most companies and individuals this means they can not obtain enough liquidity, reduce debt or increase their net cash positions fast enough.

People are really losing their appetite for equities. In the wake of last year's 39% drop in the S&P 500 index, investors seem to be scrambling for some way to preserve the money they have -- and they lack an appetite for taking the risk of buying stocks. One way I measure this is that despite the 15% increase in my newsletter's stock picks in 2008, there's not much appetite for subscribing. I think most people have concluded that the plunge in stocks does not make them cheap because there is not likely to be earnings growth to prop them back up.

Among the biggest losers in the stock market is TARP. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated last week that the U.S. Treasury's $247 billion in TARP investments made in financial institutions -- including 262 banks -- through the end of December have lost 25% of their value. NYU economist Nouriel Roubini estimated that potential credit losses for U.S. banks could hit $3.6 trillion -- $2.2 trillion more than their $1.4 trillion in capital.

This suggests that investors are wise to stay away from bank equities. But there is vast uncertainty regarding how many other industries and companies will suffer the collateral damage of a bankrupt banking system. It seems likely that any industry -- such as automobiles, airplanes, big computers, MRI machines -- that depends on financing to close deals will be in deep trouble. And with 2.6 million lost jobs in 2008, so will any industry that depends on the recently or about-to-be fired workers in these companies. Are there any equities that could emerge unscathed?