CLOSING BELL

Dow 10510.95  -114.88, Nasdaq 2317.26  -36.97, S&P 1120.80  -16.14 

Stocks started the day to the plus side, but soon things went negative as the dollar rallied on a weaker euro.  Stocks ended up closing the day near session lows.

Overseas tings improved as Greece received almost $19 billion in bailout funds to prevent the country from defaulting on its debt.  This help our markets as traders saw that the EU and IMF would step in. But stocks went into the red and the losses steepened following news that Germany will ban naked short selling on certain financial stocks, credit default swaps, and government bonds. The euro ended up dropping a sharp -1.5% to a fresh four-year low.  This helped the Dollar Index spike +1.1% to a new 52-week high.

Oil continued to decline on a stronger dollar and concerns that the fiscal problems in the EU will cause a slowdown in Europe economy. Oil prices closed with a -1.0% loss at $69.41 per barrel.

The weakness in stocks helped Treasuries.  The 10-year Note climbed one point causing the yield to fall to 3.35%.

Housing starts rose more than expected to a 672,000 annual rate last month.  The number was the highest since October 2008 and up +5.8% from March.  But building permits, which forecast future building, fell -12% to a 606,000 annual rate in April.

The Producer Price Index (PPI) which measures inflation at the wholesale level, edged lower in April as energy prices dropped. The producer price index fell by a seasonally adjusted -0.1% in April from March. Economists had expected a +0.1% increase. The Core rate which excludes food and energy rose by +0.2%, more than the expected +0.1% increase.

After hours Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) 46.79 -0.73, -1.54% reported Q2 earnings of $1.09 beating estimates by +0.04, revenues were up +13% to $30.8 billion. The company also raised future guidance. Shares are higher in afterhours trading 47.85 +1.06, +2.27%

Advancing Sectors: None
Declining Sectors: Financials -2.8%, Consumer Discretionary -1.8%, Tech -1.6%, Materials -1.5%, Industrials -1.4%, Utilities -1.0%, Health Care -0.8%, Energy -0.7%, Telecom -0.5%, Consumer Staples -0.5%