ECB Extending More Liquidity

The markets are lower in early trading, but there has not been much news. Asian markets were higher across the board overnight, while Europe is up slightly this morning.

The ECB has said that it will loosen the criteria for loan collateral, which is an attempt to provide more liquidity to member nations. Tomorrow the ECB will have its policy announcement and many investors are hoping that they ease monetary policy further with an actual rate cut. Of course, the big event this week is the outcome of the EU summit on Friday and what they will say in terms of any big initiatives to deal with the debt crisis.

The euro is down slightly on the news, and most commodities are flat. Gold prices are actually up a bit near $1734, but oil prices are lower and have broken the $100 level.

Energy and financials are lagging the action so far this morning, while healthcare and utilities are down the least.

The 10-year yield is lower to 2.06%; and the VIX is +3.5% higher near 29.25.

Trading comment: If you pull up that chart of the S&P 500 you can see that once again we were turned away at overhead resistance near the 200-day average, which sits near 1264. The market hit that level again yesterday but faded, and this morning is moving lower still. I expect some consolidation around these levels, with an eventual successful push above these resistance levels. I would actually prefer to see the market pullback ahead of the EU summit meeting. I worry that if we rallied straight into the meeting, that might increase the chances of selling off harder after the news comes out.