(As of 7:51 am pacific)
Stocks down to start the week on European political
concerns. French presidential elections
wrapped up over the weekend with socialist candidate Francois Hollande
defeating incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy to become the first social
president in France in over 30 years.
While the French election of Hollande wasn’t a surprise, questions still
remain regarding his relationship with Germany’s Chancellor and austerity
measures taken to bolster Europe’s recovery.
In Greece, investors fret after voters left the nation’s two largest
pro-bailout parties short of a majority ruling in Parliament and support
continues to surge for smaller parties opposed to austerity measures for
Greece. Greek shares were down 7.3% on
the day. Asian stocks retreated on
European political concern with the Nikkei down 2.78% and the Hang Seng down
2.61%. US stocks traded cautiously
mid-morning with the Dow the biggest loser, down 55 points or 0.42%. The US economic calendar is quiet on the day
with March consumer credit data due out at 3 pm eastern. Oil prices continued to plummet, down 1.88%
to 96.64, while gold also slipped 0.56% to 1636. The US dollar gained and the 10 yr. treasury
yield remained below 2% at 1.87%. 30 yr.
mortgage rates were at 3.79%. The CBOE
volatility index traded up 2.51% to 19.64.
