Retail sales numbers were better than expected

Credit spreads opened slightly wider in the morning as Spanish government bond yields moved above the 6% threshold causing worry.
There was a concurrent flight-to-quality bid for U.S. Treasury bonds and a rally in the U.S. dollar.
By the afternoon, stocks had recovered to close in positive territory while credit spreads closed relatively unchanged.
Retail sales numbers were better than expected while Empire Manufacturing figures pointed to a slow-down in the New York area.
Citibank announced earnings with a small miss compared to expectations but the numbers actually look somewhat decent when considering the outsized DVA (debit valuation adjustment) accounting number.
There was a bizarre disparity in equities: the technology-heavy Nasdaq index lagged the S&P and the DOW stock indices as Apple shares fell below $600 a share.
Secondary trading volumes remain relatively light and primary new bond issues have crawled to a snail's pace with most companies in their earning black-out periods.
In Spain, the market is recognizing that solvency problems cannot be cured by a simple injection of liquidity (i.e. the LTRO or longer-term refinancing operations).
Spanish banks remain under-capitalized and that is at the core of the issue.
The upcoming G-20 / IMF (International Monetary Fund) / World Bank meetings in Washington, DC, this weekend will focus on the European situation.
With rating agency Moody's likely to retroactively downgrade scores of European financial institutions and elections in both France and in Greece coming it will be an interesting April / May.
The Carlyle Group is getting ready for its IPO (initial public offering) if it's any indicator as to whether or not the equity markets have peaked.
Interestingly, at the New York Knicks – Miami Heat basketball game on Sunday, this player noticed a fair number of technology entrepreneurs in the exclusive event space suites, in addition to the usual bevy of Wall Street honchos.
It is not an exaggeration to state that much of the new wealth being generated is happening in California's Silicon Valley (or New York's Silicon Alley) as opposed to Wall Street.