(As of 7:28 am pacific)
Stocks open lower as tech stocks lead the retreat on poor
earnings announcements. Tech giants
Intel and IBM both reported 1st quarter earnings results today that
missed estimates. Slowing sales growth
on European woes caused the two stocks to miss earnings. Intel shares were down 1.5% and IBM shares
were down 2.6% at 7:21 am pacific time. In other earnings news, Yahoo shares
rise 3% as earnings beat estimates and new CEO Scott Thompson’s plan to turn
the company around gives investors confidence. Overall tone in the market today
is earnings driven coupled with some profit taking from yesterdays rally. European stocks were down 0.5% this morning
as Spanish banks lead the way. The Bank
of Spain reported the ratio of bad loans for banks hit a 17 year high in
February of 8.2%. Asian stocks rally
higher today, up 2%, taking cues from the US rally yesterday, tracking gains on
a strong Spanish bond auction Tuesday and a surprisingly positive German
consumer sentiment reading. Oil and gold
are both down 0.31% and 0.37% respectively.
The US dollar is up slightly and the 10 yr. treasury yield is down 2
basis points to 1.98%. 30 yr. mortgage
rates continue to settle near all time lows at 3.87%. The CBOE volatility index was up 0.6% to
18.57 at 7:28 am pacific.
