Goldman’s Fraud Charges, Stocks Plunge, Dollar Climbs

Goldman Sachs was accused of fraud in the synthetic Abacus CDO transaction by the SEC. Financial shares plunged on the news leading the broad market sharply lower. The U.S. dollar and Treasurys benefited from the selling as capital sought refuge from the carnage. Even Mother Nature roared with the stock bears today as a volcanic ash cloud stifled international transportation. Goldman is vigorously defending the SEC’s allegations. Investors need to be alert that additional charges against other firms may be pending. The DJIA dropped -125.91 to 11018.66, the tech heavy Nasdaq slipped -34.43 to 2481.26 and the broad based S&P 500 gave back -19.54 to 1192.13.

Special note: Please know that this is the final edition of TradingMarkets Stock Market Recap. All our newsletters are being consolidated into a pair of exciting new products, the TradingMarkets High Probability Trading Weekly newsletter and the Ultimate PowerRatings Trading Weekly newsletter.

^GS^: SEC fraud allegations sent shares plummeting 12.79% or $23.57 to $160.70.

^GOOG^: Shares fell 7.59% or $45.15 to $550.15 after results missed the most optimistic projections and costs climbed.

^GE^: A sales drop and an earnings miss sent shares down 2.72% or 53 cents to $18.97.

^PALM^: Shares climbed 3.52% or 19 cents to $5.59 on take over chatter.

Gold plunged $23.80 to $1136.50, oil gave back $2.42 to $83.09 and the VIX soared 15.54% to 18.36 on the Goldman fear.

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Market Snapshot

Dow

-125.91 11,018.66

NASDAQ

-34.43 2,481.26

S&P 500

-19.54 1,192.13
Economic
News

Treasury Budget (Mar): Consensus: $62.0B, Prior: -$191.6B

Export Prices ex-ag. (Mar): Consensus: NA, Prior: -0.2%

Import Prices ex-oil (Mar): Consensus: NA, Prior: 0.2%

Trade Balance (Feb): Consensus: -$39.0B, Prior: -$37.3B

CPI (Mar): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: 0.0%

Core CPI (Mar): Consensus: 0.1%, Prior: 0.1%

Retail Sales (Mar): Consensus: 1.1%, Prior: 0.3%

Retail Sales ex-auto (Mar): Consensus: 0.5%, Prior: 0.8%

Business Inventories (Feb): Consensus: 0.3%, Prior: 0.0%

Crude Inventories (04/10): Consensus: NA, Prior: 1.98M

Fed’s Beige Book (Apr): Consensus: NA, Prior: NA

Continuing Claims (04/03): Consensus: 4600K, Prior: 4550K

Initial Claims (04/10): Consensus: 440K, Prior: 460K

Net Long-Term TIC Flows (Jan): Consensus: NA, Prior: $19.1B

Capacity Utilization (Mar): Consensus: 73.3%, Prior: 72.7%

Industrial Production (Mar): Consensus: 0.7%, Prior: 0.1%

Philadelphia Fed (Apr): Consensus: 20.0, Prior: 18.9

Building Permits (Mar): Consensus: 626K, Prior: 637K

Housing Starts (Mar): Consensus: 610K, Prior: 575K

Mich Sentiment (Apr): Consensus: 75.0, Prior: 73.6