YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Equities saw heavy selling today as European
sovereign debt worries moved back into the forefront. Selling of peripheral
debt caused the Italian and Spanish 10-yr yields to spike as much as 30 basis
points to 5.67% and 5.99% respectively. The rise in yields sparked a flight
into the safety of German Bunds with the 2-, 5-, and 10-yr yields falling to
record lows. Here in the U.S., equities opened flat, and held their early
levels until whole inventories came in with a larger than expected 0.9% gain.
Sellers piled on after a few minutes of choppy trade and remained in control
all session long as the Nasdaq paced today’s decline
with a loss of 1.8%.
European financials saw significant selling pressure on the rise of peripheral
yields. Numerous financial stocks were halted across
Best Buy (BBY 21.32, -1.33) lost
5.9% after the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Brian Dunn. The company
named Director Mike Mikan interim CEO until a
permanent replacement is hired. Shares surged more than 4.0% in initial
reaction to Mr. Dunn’s resignation, but the stock rolled over as equities sold
off.
ViroPharma
(VPHM 22.44, -6.17) finished down 21.6% on word that Akorn
launched the generic version of the company’s Vancocin
after the Food & Drug Administration denied its citizen petition regarding
bioequivalence and exclusivity. Today’s weakness dropped the stock to its worst
levels since November 28.
Shares of SuperValue
(SVU 6.13, +0.81) gained 15.2% following the company’s better than expected
fourth quarter earnings. The company announced earnings per share of $0.38
which topped Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.36 per share. Revenues missed
expectations, coming in at $8.23 billion on expectations of $8.32 billion.
Grain ETFs fell despite today’s bullish grains
report. The USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand report (WASDE) indicated
global corn ending stocks (inventory) fell 1.82 million metric tons (mmt), or 1.5%, to 122.71 mmt,
driven by inventory declines outside of the
Treasuries saw strong gains as today’s flight to safety dropped the 10-yr yield
below 2.00% for the first time in a month. Curve flattening continued with the
2-10-yr spread tightening to 169.5 basis points. Meanwhile, corporate bonds
underperformed with iShares iBoxx
$ Investment Grade ETF (LQD 115.52, -0.07) down 0.1%, and SPDR Barclays Capital High Yield ETF (JNK 38.69, -0.14) sliding
0.4% to see a seventh consecutive session of losses.
After briefly breaking into positive territory, crude oil slid into
the red and continued to trend lower until about 12:15pm ET. From there, crude
chopped around near the $101.00 per barrel level, and closed its pit session
with a loss of 1.3% at $101.12 per barrel. Natural gas extended losses as it
saw selling pressure during floor trading, closing down 3.8% and at a new
lifetime low of $2.03 per MMBtu. Elsewhere, precious
metals reacted to moves in the dollar index. Both gold and silver fell into the
red in morning pit trade where they tested session lows of $1632.50 per ounce
and $31.11 per ounce, respectively. However, the complex saw a sharp rally into
positive territory as the dollar pulled back in early afternoon trade. Gold
continued to see strenght into the close of floor
trading, ending the session just below its 1664.80 high. Silver chopped around
the $31.60 per ounce level after its rally, closing its pit session up 0.2% at
$31.58 per ounce.
Wednesday’s data slate includes the weekly MBA Mortgage Index, import/export
prices, the Treasury budget, and the Fed’s Beige Book. Treasury will hold a
10-yr note reopening.DJ30 -213.66 NASDAQ -55.86 SP500 -23.61 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 464/1.90 bln/2049 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec
463/970.7 mln/2610