Morning Market Report

Markets took a beating yesterday following the release of poor first time jobless claims. The Dow was down three digits. Stocks are currently up as options expire today. Today is known as quadruple witching.

A day on which contracts for stock index futures, stock index options, stock options and single stock futures (SSF) all expire.

That almost always leads to great volatility. So far, this morning the markets are relatively tame. Bonds are slightly worse this morning. The ten year U.S. Treasury bond is now at 3.50%. That's up two basis points though it's still much better than the 3.63% it reached earlier in the week. The yield spread between the two and ten year bond is back up to2.72%. That's been challenging the all time biggest spread of 2.75% all week.

Oil is shooting up this morning. It's up nearly $2 a barrel this morning. It's currently at $74.45 a barrel. That's up about $5 a barrel since it crossed below $70 a barrel about two weeks ago. Gold is basically even this morning. It's currently at $1109.75 an ounce this morning. That's up slightly this morning but it's still in a downward trend that's shaved about $100 an ounce since it reached an all time high last month.

Markets are currently split in Europe. The FTSE in London is up .07%, the DAX in Germany is up .54%, and the Spanish index is up .29%. Meanwhile, the Swedish and Italian index are both down among several that are down.

Currencies are relatively mild this morning. The Dollar is up by .14% against the Euro, .13% against the British Pound but down .54% against the Japanese Yen.