Google (GOOG: sentiment, chart, options) was started with a "sell" rating this morning at Monness, Crespi, Hardt, but that apparently wasn't enough of a downside catalyst for CEO Eric Schmidt. At a Wall Street Journal CEO conference, Schmidt confessed that "Basically, everyone is worried about revenue." Although he voiced his support for the speedy passage of a stimulus package by Congress, Schmidt didn't offer a comment on Google's own revenue outlook.

Shares of the Internet-search giant are down about 3% as midday approaches, and they're resting on tenuous support near the 290 level. So far, GOOG hasn't yet closed a day beneath this round-number region, though a few intraday breaches of the level have occurred.

Now that GOOG is down 57% year-to-date, option players are beginning to display a bearish bias toward the stock. On the International Securities Exchange, the shares have garnered a 10-day put/call ratio of 1.36. This reading indicates that more puts than calls have been purchased on Google during the past 2 weeks, and it ranks just 3 percentage points from an annual pessimistic peak.