(As of 7:20 am pacific)
After taking back half of the day’s losses yesterday,
markets open in a sharp decline with the Dow set to extend its losing streak to
6 straight days, the longest since August.
Stocks continue to slide as worries continue over Greece’s inability to
form a government and the worsening of the European debt crisis. Greece continues to struggle through
formation of a coalition government after this past weekend’s elections and has
become even more vulnerable to a lack of funding, causing discussion that
Greece may have to leave the Euro-zone. This
week’s Greek struggles have impacted the government bonds of nearby countries,
as Spain and Italy have seen rates soar on their 10 year bonds. Spanish 10 year yields rose 2.5% to 6% and
Italy 10 year yields rose 2.5% to 5.6%.
In Spain, stocks declined sharply today led by the Spanish banking
sector. In the US, stocks continued to
decline on European woes and a “sell in May, go away” attitude. In corporate news, shares of Walt Disney rose
2% as the company reported higher than expected profits before the bell. Macy’s shares plunged 4.35% after reporting
higher profits but failing to hike its 2012 guidance. Yahoo shares continue to get beat up over the
controversy surrounding the academic background of new CEO, Scott Thompson. The board member involved in the hiring of
the new CEO has reportedly decided to step down. In Asia, stocks were down across all major
indices on worries over Greece and the Euro-zone. Oil prices dipped again today, down 1.12% to
95.92, while gold fell 1.22% to 1585.
The US dollar gained across the board, as investors fled risky assets
and flocked to safe haven of the greenback.
10 yr. treasury yields fell 3 basis points to 1.81% and 30 yr. mortgage
rates remained at all-time lows at 3.78%.
The volatility index continued to climb, up 7.30% to 20.44.
