Abdullah Karatash

Stocks traded deep in the red but managed to close off of the low prints by the end of the day.

Treasury bonds surged higher in the morning but also closed off of the highs.

Corporate credit spreads traded somewhat weak throughout the entire day with cash bonds particularly heavy.

The yield on the 5 year Treasury bond is firmly below 1.5%; at these levels real-money investors have less and less of an appetite to add risk.

The U.S. dollar rallied against the Euro and closed at 1.426 despite a late-day headline about Greece agreeing to an austerity measure with the EU (European Union).

Greece is in no position to say no to the EU's austerity demands and so most investors remain wary despite the headline.

Initial jobless claims were higher than expected and there are few data points that point to a rapidly improving economy.

Oil was down substantially closing under $92 a barrel on profit-taking; the driver seems to be concerns about a slowing global economy.

The sell-off in oil may be temporary.

There is a great deal of geopolitical risk in the Middle East that could stir things up.

There is a shadow war going on.

The Russian plane that crashed earlier this week in Northwestern Russia had five nuclear scientists who were working on Iran's Bushehr reactor on board.

There is also Iranian involvement propping up the regime in Syria; sooner or later something will give.

CDS (credit default swap) spreads for commodity giant Glencore widened some 50 basis points today.

Egypt recently announced that it would not be a buyer of Russian wheat once that country's exports resume; this could pressure wheat prices.

On an interesting note, the contract for California's high-speed rail network may very well go to a consortium of Chinese companies (that successfully built a similar network in Turkey not too long ago).

In the covered bond space, a Congressional panel approved a bill to pave the way for the covered bond market in the U.S.

This new legislation will make it easier for banks to raise capital since the market for securitization remains stalled.

Durable goods order and GDP numbers are out tomorrow.