Market Reflections 4/22/2009

Banking news may be taking a turn for the worse. Morgan Stanley posted an unexpectedly deep loss and cut its dividend, news that follows last week's warning from Bank of America that qualified borrowers are scarce. Morgan Stanley shares lost 9.0 percent while the S&P 500 slipped 0.8 percent. The dollar eased slightly to end at $1.3005 against the euro while the Treasury curve steepened ahead of long-end supply. Huge builds in weekly inventories didn't hurt oil which firmed to $48. Gold firmed slightly to $890.