THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Miserable Monday Sinks NYSE Stocks.(MAKING MONEY)

Byline: JONAH KERI

NYSE stocks fell hard into the close Monday, carrying a double whammy of higher volume. The Dow industrials swooned 2.2%, the S&P 500 2.5%. Losers trounced winners across the board as the losses cut deep.

Gaming stocks tumbled. Those that own riverboat gambling operations in Illinois fell particularly hard after the state legislature passed a bill that will hike gaming taxes.

Argosy Gaming plummeted 7.03, or 20%, to 27.37, slicing its 200-day moving average on nearly eight times its typical trade. Mandalay Resort Group fizzled 2.10 to 30.50 as volume swelled nearly threefold. Harrah's Entertainment dived 3.67 to 43.98 on brisk turnover, taking out its 50-day.

Hovnanian Enterprises lost 1.99 to 30 on twice its usual trade. The home builder tested its 50-day, finding support near that level. The stock sports a 99 Composite Rating and was a yellow-highlighted stock in Monday's paper, thanks to its strong fundamentals. But it seems to be forming a third-stage base. Earlier-stage bases tend to carry less risk.

Kraft Foods gapped down 1.46 to 41.55 as volume doubled. Morgan Stanley cut the ...