Event Risk In Focus

With earnings season winding down,event risk has become the focus for traders now.Stocks closed at their lows of Friday's session,with financials losing big on concern over a criminal probe into Goldman Sachs' activities.Traders are worried that further negative information about the Wall Street titan will toughen new financial regulations even more.The other main concern is the Greek debt crisis,which has reached a critical juncture this weekend.If no bailout is reached by Sunday night,Friday's selling could resume on Monday.Greece needs to come up with cash for a May 19 debt payment.
Nonetheless,stocks closed up both for the week and the month.April is traditionally a strong month for equities,while the summer months are believed to yield weaker results,according to conventional wisdom.The S&P futures were down sharply this evening,losing 21.90,while bond futures rose.In golf,Tiger Woods was in danger of not making the cut in the PGA event at Quail Hollow,with relatively obscure players being on the leader board.

Fear Returns To Market

It's been a while since fear stalked the trading floor,but that is just what happened on this one-headline Friday.With the Securities and Exchange Commission filing civil charges against Goldman Sachs,the thought of the day was just who would be next.The financial stocks are so central today,so critical to the market's welfare,any threat to them calls into question the recent rally.All of the largest firms fell big time in a session that saw the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index jump 15.54.The financials lost 44 billion dollars in value on Friday,while Goldman alone dropped 10 billion.
Nonetheless,even though the cold breath of fear breathed down traders' necks again,the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with a 0.2 gain for the week.The NASDAQ was up 1.1,but the S&P 500 stepped down 0.2 for the week.The futures gave little hope for the resumption of equities trading on Monday,with the S&P futures down 18.20and the Dow futures off a triple digit at -112,while Treasury futures rose in contrast.
Razorback fans were comforted as Arkansas took a 3-2 lead over the Georgia Bulldogs in college baseball,while some major league fans relaxed with Philadelphia leading Florida 5-1.
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