1:25pmCT Friday, January 16, 2015

University of Michigan’s preliminary Consumer Sentiment beat consensus estimates of 94.1, and came in at 98.2.

The DJIA is now +0.49% or 84 points to 17,405, the S&P500 is up  15.10 or 0.76% to 2,007.7.  The S&PMidcap400 is +0.82% to 1422, and the VIX is down 0.76% to 22.22

FXCM a currency brokerage has been halted all day, shares before the opening were indicating they were going to trade down over 88% from yesterday’s close. The surging Swiss Franc took a major toll on its client’s accounts.

GS is -3.04, or -1.7% to 175.45.

Crude oil is trading +2.23 or +4.8% to $48.48 per barrel.

8:00amCT Friday, January 16, 2015

CPI release indicates -0.4%, futures versus fair value are now indicating an implied opening of -17 for the DJIA and -2 for the S&P500.

GS reported a -7% decline in quarterly EPS, the shares are down $2.79 or -1.56% in premarket trading.

Overnight Asian securities markets were mostly down, while European shares traded higher.  Oil is trading up about +1.28%, with Brent oil up +2.49%.  Gold is currently trading +0.50 to $1,265.30.  The euro is at 1.1572.

7:15amCT, Friday, January 16, 2015

Futures vs Fair value are now indicating an implied opening of -58 points for the DJIA and -7.8 points for the S&P500.

In the financial news there’s worries among currency traders that potentially some currency trading firms may go belly up over the extreme dramatic instantaneous surge in the Swiss Franc yesterday as currency traders frequently employ 100:1 leverage or greater (perhaps 400:1).  Had anyone bet against the Franc vs the Euro they’d now be sitting on ENORMOUS losses, which the trading firms may have to eat themselves. Usually, currency trading is quite tranquil, and many currencies don’t move very much throughout the trading day, firms allow such extreme leverage because they can initiate margin calls, and traders can usually use stop loss orders.  Yesterday surely caught some off guard.

It also could have proven to be a boon for traders long the Franc versus the Euro. They’d surely be in hog heaven at this point!