A feeble attempt at a rally Monday...

A feeble attempt at a rally Monday didn’t seem to restore any confidence to the stock market as investors are continuing to face the reality of being held hostage to the threat of a war in the Middle East, said Irving Katz, director of research at Thomas Green/San Diego Securities.

In addition, weak retail sales and a slowdown in housing starts and sales confirm investors’ fears of a recession while the core inflation rate is increasing. None of this was ignored by traders of the 64 San Diego stocks, as 19 dropped to new 1990 lows.

The reasons are many, but overall perceptions of the future of the companies have undergone a radical transformation. Belief that California real estate will go the way of the East Coast with its declining values caused new lows in Burnham Pacific Properties, HomeFed, BSD Bancorp, First National and Great American.

The possibility of a drop in discretionary spending, which eventually affects earnings, produced new lows in Chart House Enterprises and Price Co. Defense-related issues making new lows included Humphrey Inc. and Maxwell Laboratories.

Poor and disappointing earnings prospects caused new lows in Wahlco Environmental, Advanced Marketing Services and WD-40.

Investor difficulty in understanding the merger of Intermark and Triton Group Ltd. caused both stocks to hit new lows. The shareholders meet on Aug. 30 to approve a swap whereby Triton shareholders will receive 1.4 shares of Intermark stock for each share they own.

Recent new issues that fell to new lows included Gensia Pharmaceuticals and California Jaymar.