The DJIA (-0.19% to 12825) and S&P 500 (-0.16% to 1388) suffered due to the Financials (XLF -1.55%), whereas the Nasdaq Composite (+0.21% to 2408) was modestly higher at the close. The Techs were up (+0.63), but the leader was Energy (XLE +1.14%).

The Bank of America 1Q net earnings dropped -77% to $1.21 billion after the credit market loss provision was set at $6.01 billion. National City (NCC) shares were hammered after the bank reported a $171 million 1Q loss, requiring the bank to do a raise up of $7 billion in new capital.

These problems with the US bankers pushed the $USD down -0.50% to 71.62, causing a lift to Crude Oil ($WTIC +0.47/bbl to 116.63) and $GOLD (+2.40/oz to 917.60). The oil price today is at a record due partly to supply disruptions in Nigeria.

The Euro spiked down just after 1:00am ET when news hit of a failed German bank, but the price trend reverted at 3:00am ET, apparently when it became obvious that European bankers would backstop these failures.

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Comments & Outlook

Some European banks are toast according to this Reuters story today:

Germany's BdB banking association has taken control of Duesseldorfer Hypothekenbank (DUOGg.F) and plans to sell it after the property lender ran into problems linked to the financial crisis.

"It moved the euro lower because so far we've seen very little stress from European banks," said Adam Myers, market strategist at Credit Suisse. "I'm a bit surprised the fall wasn't deeper... and now people will be hunting round for other institutions in a similar predicament (which if they come to light) would lead to a more significant correction for the euro."

The big UK lending bank Northern Rock went bankrupt too only in that case the banking industry did not want it and the UK government had to nationalize it about 30 days ago.

Time to acknowledge the need to be defensive.

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Links & Charts

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International Economics Review

US Economic Calendar.

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Knobias Cara100 Tables

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Cara 100 Daily RSI-7 Charts

At least one RSI value >70:

Ticker	Last	RSI-7M	RSI-7W	RSI-7D	Zone
SYT	65.54	91.29	78.33	81.08	Distribution Zone (for 4 days)
ECA	86.23	82.75	77.03	80.28	Distribution Zone (for 5 days)
WMT	56.38	79.36	82.31	68.75	Sell alert (trig. 2 days ago [on 2008-04-18 at $56.31, +0.12% chg], after a 4 day DZ)
RIMM	126.20	77.81	71.39	69.55
GGB	38.22	77.58	69.64	69.23	Sell alert (trig. 7 days ago [on 2008-04-11 at $35.94, +6.34% chg], after a 1 day DZ)
ATVI	27.50	75.84	62.17	67.93
TT	46.70	73.62	74.47	67.22
GG	41.07	73.43	56.96	50.53
NKE	68.62	72.17	66.40	67.18
IMO	60.72	71.96	72.48	80.09	Distribution Zone (for 1 days)
ABB	28.02	71.06	64.30	66.24
COST	69.11	70.98	64.55	71.94
PBR	128.82	70.26	70.74	85.67	Distribution Zone (for 1 days)
SU	118.28	70.19	72.17	85.98	Distribution Zone (for 1 days)
RIO	39.25	69.84	69.71	81.09	Sell alert (trig. 3 days ago [on 2008-04-17 at $37.98, +3.34% chg], after a 1 day DZ)
NUE	74.39	69.22	70.26	68.52
PDA	52.90	68.89	60.74	70.57
EXC	86.32	67.94	72.64	70.65	Sell alert (trig. 1 days ago [on 2008-04-21 at $86.32, +0.00% chg], after a 2 day DZ)
TS	55.75	67.47	76.50	80.69
BHP	83.55	65.13	72.93	78.35
STO	34.74	64.62	75.99	75.83
CEO	179.51	64.12	65.74	78.39
TOT	82.45	64.06	69.53	76.96
ORCL	21.76	64.06	64.91	74.80
CVX	92.70	63.48	71.48	76.41
XOM	94.26	63.27	71.24	83.50
NTES	20.37	58.76	56.95	71.17
LLTC	33.75	58.18	69.77	73.02
GOOG	537.79	51.22	57.65	79.57
DOW	39.97	50.92	63.12	75.49
CCJ	38.33	49.33	56.67	74.01
INFY	42.68	48.16	63.58	80.25
DB	121.97	47.62	61.60	73.24
TM	103.72	40.43	50.78	74.44	Buy alert (trig. 7 days ago [on 2008-04-11 at $96.02, +8.02% chg], after a 2 day AZ)
SNDK	28.52	37.20	60.75	70.37
UBS	35.84	32.75	52.93	75.08

At least one RSI value <30:

Ticker	Last	RSI-7M	RSI-7W	RSI-7D	Zone
SBUX	18.05	17.75	46.10	57.05
BBD	21.80	22.81	16.20	8.09	Accumulation Zone (for 4 days)
BC	15.72	23.44	41.72	41.12
GOL	15.38	25.62	34.96	44.48
DELL	19.56	27.96	43.66	62.46	Buy alert (trig. 4 days ago [on 2008-04-16 at $18.72, +4.49% chg], after a 2 day AZ)
JCP	41.18	29.06	47.44	61.85
GRMN	45.11	29.67	24.93	38.67	Buy alert (trig. 8 days ago [on 2008-04-10 at $46.56, -3.11% chg], after a 1 day AZ)
AET	42.14	31.16	27.47	51.90	Buy alert (trig. 5 days ago [on 2008-04-15 at $42.07, +0.17% chg], after a 1 day AZ)
NOK	28.86	43.83	31.04	25.85
DNA	71.91	44.54	37.56	14.29

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International Equity Markets Review

Europe

Here is the latest session data for the bourses of Europe.

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Here is the latest session data for the London stock exchange FTSE.

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Here is the latest session data for the German DAX.

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Here is the latest session data for the French CAC 40.

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Here is the latest session data for the Milan Italy stock exchange MIBTEL.

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Here is the latest session data for the Swiss market index.

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Asia-Pacific

Here is the latest session data for the Asia-Pacific stock exchanges.

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Here is the latest chart for the Japanese Nikkei 225 index.

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Here is the latest chart for the Singapore index .

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Here is the latest chart for the Shanghai Composite index .

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Here is the latest chart for the Hong Kong Hang Seng index .

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Here is the latest chart for the India BSE 30 index .

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Here is the latest chart for the Australian All Ordinaries index .

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US Equity Markets Review

DJIA (interactive) chart

NASDAQ Composite (interactive) chart

Table 14: Dow 30 List

Sorted by 1-Week Price Performance

Symbol	Close	1Day Change	1Day %Change	1W %Change	2W %Change	4W %Change	YTD %Change	3M %Change	6M %Change	12M %Change
GM	21.27	1.14	5.66%	11.95%	1.24%	4.37%	-12.86%	-9.57%	-43.43%	-32.86%
C	25.03	-0.08	-0.32%	11.20%	1.75%	7.56%	-13.45%	2.37%	-40.91%	-53.14%
CAT	83.33	-1.95	-2.29%	10.31%	7.87%	9.60%	17.98%	32.67%	13.27%	16.03%
JPM	45.23	-0.53	-1.16%	8.99%	-0.68%	-2.84%	7.26%	14.80%	0.47%	-13.91%
INTC	22.46	-0.09	-0.40%	8.55%	3.26%	1.49%	-11.40%	18.21%	-14.60%	1.35%
MSFT	30.42	0.42	1.40%	8.41%	4.32%	4.29%	-13.63%	-7.85%	0.83%	4.82%
AIG	46.54	-1.69	-3.50%	7.51%	-3.12%	0.93%	-17.34%	-10.59%	-26.44%	-33.06%
DD	52.25	0.23	0.44%	7.07%	6.65%	11.98%	19.46%	22.37%	11.48%	6.03%
AXP	45.70	0.17	0.37%	6.98%	-1.83%	-3.61%	-10.46%	4.79%	-19.98%	-25.08%
AA	36.25	-0.01	-0.03%	6.84%	-3.18%	3.45%	0.33%	24.57%	-3.18%	5.47%
IBM	124.35	-0.05	-0.04%	6.03%	6.91%	4.44%	18.78%	20.26%	10.75%	31.48%
HPQ	48.45	0.27	0.56%	5.74%	5.51%	1.08%	-2.73%	10.74%	-5.74%	17.11%
BAC	37.61	-0.95	-2.46%	5.71%	-4.78%	-11.40%	-7.27%	4.56%	-20.94%	-26.31%
MCD	58.67	0.37	0.63%	5.64%	5.43%	5.20%	0.98%	11.97%	3.99%	21.32%
MMM	82.34	-0.56	-0.68%	5.21%	2.68%	4.70%	-0.45%	9.92%	-4.94%	5.90%
XOM	94.26	0.26	0.28%	5.08%	6.01%	9.67%	0.80%	10.79%	2.30%	18.18%
DIS	31.46	0.13	0.41%	4.73%	-0.19%	-1.81%	-1.19%	10.35%	-6.95%	-10.83%
HD	28.98	0.30	1.05%	3.83%	1.68%	-0.96%	10.99%	10.27%	-5.79%	-26.09%
CVX	92.70	-0.48	-0.52%	3.81%	5.02%	10.34%	-0.81%	11.07%	3.84%	18.16%
UTX	72.09	-0.42	-0.58%	3.00%	0.42%	2.49%	-4.15%	5.94%	-5.14%	6.83%
BA	79.09	0.43	0.55%	2.42%	5.48%	3.67%	-8.69%	0.88%	-15.77%	-15.22%
GE	32.46	-0.23	-0.70%	2.24%	-12.88%	-13.21%	-11.70%	-5.39%	-18.93%	-7.60%
WMT	56.38	0.07	0.12%	2.23%	3.96%	5.13%	20.21%	18.50%	25.34%	13.30%
VZ	35.96	-0.07	-0.19%	1.75%	-3.85%	-2.73%	-16.78%	-8.01%	-18.77%	-5.14%
T	37.59	0.08	0.21%	1.05%	-3.64%	-1.16%	-8.32%	4.10%	-9.14%	-5.72%
JNJ	66.32	-0.19	-0.29%	0.88%	0.27%	2.20%	0.62%	0.05%	3.25%	1.84%
KO	60.35	0.24	0.40%	-1.07%	-0.03%	-1.36%	-1.21%	-0.64%	2.71%	15.86%
PFE	20.20	-0.27	-1.32%	-1.75%	-5.96%	-1.99%	-11.83%	-10.26%	-16.08%	-25.10%
PG	67.80	0.63	0.94%	-3.31%	-3.84%	-3.10%	-6.24%	0.97%	-4.24%	6.27%
MRK	39.63	-0.13	-0.33%	-4.28%	-2.82%	-10.44%	-30.92%	-2