Did you say May 1?
Check this out!
http://www.financialsense.com/Market/wrapup.htm The financial market saw red ink flowing everywhere today. Virtually every asset group including stocks, bonds, commodities and precious metals took a significant hit throughout the trading day. It all started with announcements out of China that they needed to get serious about slowing down their overheated economy. China ordered 11 of its top banks to cease all lending until May 1st, and at that point it’s possible some new lending policies will be forthcoming. According to a Bloomberg article, a vice governor of the People’s Bank of China, Wu Xiaoling said the government was trying to slow China’s economic growth to less than 8% this year from a six-year high of 9.1% last year. It’s looking like China is the economic center for global growth, and the news brought asset prices down across the board. For U.S. investors, there was practically nowhere to hide except good old cash or going short on just about anything.
The U.S. dollar had a huge day to the upside with a final close on the dollar index at 91.45. Of the majors, the two biggest losers in the foreign exchange arena were the commodity driven currencies, the Australian dollar and the Canadian dollar with losses of 1.67% and 1.29% respectively. The yen dropped 0.51% to 0.9103 and the euro fell 0.78% to 1.1825. The dollar strength was attributed to the prospect of rising interest rates and expectations of a strong GDP number for the first quarter which will be released tomorrow.
Just got on, trying to check up.
Re- May 1st- I believe May Day is a significant date for the commies of the world. Jill had posted some information on her site indicating the jihadis would attempt to hit us 2 days after "a significant day for Communists." So I was guessing May 3rd.