Thursday, February 21, 2013

Dow Opens Down 95, But Pares Losses

U.S. markets are having a rocky start, following a downturn in Asia and Europe, as “bailout fever” seems to have subsided in the wake of Europe’s nearly $1 trillion pledge of loans made Sunday night.

The Dow Industrials are off 65 points at 10,720, after opening down 95 points.

The selling is fairly broad-based, with Caterpillar (CAT) off $1.20, or 2%, at $65.49, Goldman Sachs (GS) down $2.27, or 1.5%, at $141.68; Procter & Gamble (PG) off 13 cents at $62.28; Boeing (BA) down 31 cents, almost half a percent, at $70.69; Sysco (SYY) off 13 cents at $30.13; and Toll Brothers (TOL) down 21 cents, or 1%, at $22.20.

The S&P is down 8 points at 1,150.

Things had been set for a rough opening, with the Dow futures for June off 81 points at 10,735 just before the open, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 June futures are down 11 points at 1,145.70.

Earlier this morning, the Financial Times’s Alphaville blog described how Asia is “taking a hard look” at the bailout, with the Nikkei index falling 1.1% and the Hang Seng index off 1.5%

Alphaville cites the report of one Nicholas Smith of MF Global, who points out a depressed Euro — and it is currently down from last night’s closing cross of $1.2788 at $1.2689 — will drepress Europe’s demand for Asian goods.

Nor is Europe chipper, actually. The FTSE Europe Index is down about 2%.

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