Stock Market Dives On ECB Resignation

Friday was another disastrous day in equity markets across the world. Just prior to the opening bell, the European Central Bank announced that executive board member Jurgen Stark was resigning his position. Stark opposed the ECB's bond buying program in debt-stricken EU countries. The announcement added fuel to the fire of a plunging euro and stressed European banks. Losses across the Atlantic spilled into U.S. markets which opened lower, attempted to rally, and then plunged amid a deluge of heavy selling. The only bright spot was that some late day buying prevented a close on the lows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 303 points to close at 10,992. The widely watched blue-chip index traded in a range between 10,935 and 11,294. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY lost 2.62% to $115.92. Volume was significantly heavier than usual with around 370 million SPY shares trading hands compared to a 3-month daily average of 274 million. The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which tracks the performance of the Nasdaq 100, fell 2.22% to close at $53.18. The QQQ is now down 2.35% for the year. Crude oil fell along with the stock market. NYMEX crude futures shed 2.08% to $87.20. Brent crude lost 1.74% to $112.56. The United States Oil Fund ETF USO lost 1.77% to $33.85 in NYSE trading. Gold tried to rally throughout the session, but was kept in check by a strong U.S. Dollar and gains were marginal. COMEX gold futures added 0.21% to $1,861.40. The SPDR Gold Trust ETF GLD lost 0.61% to $180.70. Silver futures shed 2% to finish at $41.675. Treasuries were bid higher throughout the session as spooked investors pulled money from risk assets. The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT added 1.07% to $113.71. The 10-Year yield hit a new all-time low, falling 6.4% to 1.91%. The U.S. Dollar moved sharply higher as the euro was in meltdown mode. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish ETF UUP, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of foreign currencies, added 1.20% to $21.91. The closely watched EUR/USD pair is currently trading at $1.3651 and lost nearly 1.7% today.