Kazakhstan Building Collapse
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The one-day winning streak comes to an end.
First the scoreboard:
Dow: 12,419, -160.8, -1.2%

S&P 500: 1,313, -19.1, -1.4%

NASDAQ: 2,837, -33.6, -1.1%

And now the top stories:


  • European markets were an utter mess this morning. Things improved briefly on reports that the European Union would consider using the European Stability Mechanism (the permanent euro bailout fund) to directly recapitalize European banks. However, this optimism vanished when analysts realized that the European Commission—not the more important European Central Bank or EU leaders—was suggesting this plan.

  • Meanwhile, Italy had a tough government bond auction this morning, and the debt-laden country saw its 10-year borrowing rate surge north of 6 percent. 

  • Also, Spain remains a hot mess.  Former Spanish premier Felipe Gonzalez recently wrote, "We’re in a situation of total emergency, the worst crisis we have ever lived through."

  • The one major economic data point we got today was April pending home sales, which unexpectedly plunged 5.5 percent.  Economists were looking for the number to be flat.  Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics thinks that this might be just noise and that it might be safe to ignore it for now.  However, housing bears like Keith Jurownow have more evidence to support their dismal forecasts. 


  • Shares of Research In Motion fell 7.8 percent today.  After the U.S. markets closed last night, the BlackBerry maker unexpectedly announced it would be reporting an operating loss in Q1.  It also reported that it had hired investment banks JP Morgan Securities and RBC Capital Markets to help it review "strategic business model alternatives."

  • Pep Boys, the auto repair chain, absolutely collapsed today after The Gores Group cancelled its $791 million bid for the company.  The stock fell 19.8 percent.