The Day Ahead: Turmoil Continues as Financial Reform Moves Forward

Equity futures continue sliding this morning after the stock market was dealt a crushing blow yesterday. The S&P 500 dropped 3.9% ― it’s biggest one-day decline in more than a year ― while the Dow fell 3.6% and the Nasdaq slid 4.1%. 

This morning, futures indicate stocks will open lower. Dow futures are 71 points lower at 9,985. The index has already fallen 9.44% over the past month, so a poor end to the week could push that decline into a double-digit percentage point drop. The S&P 500, which has already fallen more than 10 percent since its April highs,  looks to open lower by 7.50 points at 1,062.00. The S&P yesterday closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time in more than a year.

The 2 year Treasury note yield 1.7 basis points lower at 0.699% while the benchmark 10 year Treasury note yield is 10.7 basis points lower at 3.107%. Commodity prices are also weaker: WTI crude oil is down $1.16 to $69.64 per barrel and Spot Gold is off $6.60 to $1,182.00

No fresh data from the U.S. will hit the headlines today, but markets will have plenty to think about after the Senate yesterday by a vote of 59-29 passed what the Wall Street Journal called “the most extensive overhaul of financial-sector regulation since the 1930s.”

The newspaper added, “The controversial measure, supported by the Obama administration, sets up new regulatory bodies and restricts the actions of banks and other financial firms. It is designed to try to make order of the cascading regulatory chaos that ensued in 2008 when mammoth banks and some unregulated financial firms collapsed, and public funds were used to save them.”

Bloomberg writes, "It would change the way banks manage their balance sheets, hedge their interest-rate bets and invest their proceeds. It would chip away at the secrecy of the Federal Reserve, create a council of regulators and make it easier for investors to sue credit raters. It would cut the fees debit-card issuers collect from merchants."

The measures must still be approved by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, markets will continue to be on Europe’s problems, a focus that’s been so intense that it has drowned out the positive sounds of first-quarter earnings in the U.S., according to BMO Capital Markets.

“Despite being very strong almost across the board, the first quarter earnings season has gone nearly unnoticed given the turmoil in Europe,” they said isn a morning note, while noting that Dell posted better than expected data. 

Key Events Today:

No significant data.