The Markets Are Open

Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
First the important news. Naked Pizza is opening its first location in Chicago today. My brother has the franchise rights in the city. He and his team will be opening 8-10 locations in the next couple years. If you’re in Chicago, check it out (953 W. Diversey Pkwy). Here are a few of the write-ups in the local media. metromix redeye q101. )
Moving on…
The Asian/Pacific markets closed mostly down. Hong Kong lost almost 2%, Taiwan more than 1%. Europe is pretty much down across the board. Greece is down more than 3% and France, Stockholm and London around 1%. Futures here in the States point towards a large gap down from the cash market.
The dollar is up. Oil and copper are down more than 1%. Gold and silver are down.
Spain remains a top headline story. 10-year borrowing costs hit 6.67% – close to the level at which Ireland and Greece needed bailouts.
10-year yields in Italy topped 6% for the first time this year.
The euro dropped to its lowest level in two years.
RIMM has hired JP Morgan and RBC to advise it on its “options.” This means the company will be chopped in pieces and put on the selling block. It’s phone business is worthless (they posted an operating loss in the first quarter), but its patent portfolio is definitely worth several billion dollars…ergo the company is worth more dead than alive.
The market did well yesterday. Spain was downgraded. The market initially sold off, but buyers eventually stepped in and pushed prices back to their intraday highs. When the market can shrug off bad news and move up, it’s a sign the downtrend may be close to an end. But it won’t be easy. Technically there’s a big block of overhead supply to contend with and Europe still rules the day. Hence there’s lots of uncertainty in the near term.www.leavittbrothers.com