Abdullah Karatash

Stocks closed in the red but managed to recover off their lows as oil came in off the highs to close under $97 a barrel.

A likely explanation for the sudden drop in oil prices was the rumor that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve had been tapped into, aided by technical profit-taking.

Qaddafi is still alive and may be able to hang on for a little while longer, protected by his vast personal wealth and a coterie of foreign combatants, both European and sub-Saharan.

Corporate credit opened weaker in the morning with some real-money accounts selling bonds but managed to close tighter by the end of the day.

Credit out-performed relative to stocks as dealers / fast-money players who bought CDS (credit default swap) protection took profit today.

There are still a lot of known unknowns, however, that should concern the markets.

Aside from Libya, Ireland goes to the polls tomorrow and the European sovereign situation may come back in headline form.

Chinese consumer confidence slid to a 4 year low while the fraud at Alibaba.com only draws attention to the accounting irregularities of China's books.

Corporate bond new issues were muted amidst the volatility.

GDP is out tomorrow.