Trade GAP op record hoogte, consumenten vertrouwen veel lager.

Slechte cijfers zetten de markt wat onder druk, de komende week kan die daling een vervolg krijgen. Maandag is Wall Street dicht ivm een feestdag.

Slechte cijfers zetten de markt lager.

- De trade GAP kwam uit op -42,5 miljard terwijl men uitging van een tekort van 40 miljard.
- Het consumentenvertrouwen lag rond de 93 waar men uitging van 103. Dit is meer dan 10 onder de verwachting.

• 14:49 ET Looking Ahead : As the markets go into the three day weekend, it is important to note a very important event for the semiconductor sector which begins next week. The Intel Developer's Forum will be held from Feb 17-19 at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California. Typically, this event is well attended by analysts, institutional money managers and media with a keen interest on the company's technology and product presentations. ThinkEquity Partners notes the forum should have a heavy focus on mobility/wireless, the Digital Home, PCI Express and servers. Intel does not give a quarterly update at the Forum.

• 14:20 ET Bond Market Summary : Treasuries traded higher all day with yields reaching as low as 4.006% following the less-than-stellar U of M report, import price index, and trade balance figures. The late morning sell-off of today's gains was of little surprise with today's early close and the long President's Day weekend. Next week we look ahead to CPI, PPI, leading indicators, and the NY Empire State Index, with the inflation indicators offering a peek at where we stand in relation to future rate moves. Meanwhile, the rumor mill continues to whisper that the European Central Bank may be joining their Asian counterparts in selling euros to boost the dollar and help their exports. The ten-years traded between 4.061% and 4.006% and are currently +07/32nds yielding 4.042%; twos are +02/32nds yielding 1.663%; threes are +04/32nds yielding 2.185%; fives are +05/32nds yielding 3.01%; thirties are +05/32nds yielding 4.916%.

• 13:03 ET Floor Talk : Speaking to one trader who says he's seen some short-covering come in over past 15-20 minutes, suggesting that locals at the CBOT are calling it a day and heading over to the Ceres Cafe for drinks. Reminder: Markets will be closed on Monday.

• 12:27 ET Gold reversed sharply on Dollar strength : Gold reversed sharply as profit-taking ensued with the Dollar/Euro nearing its all-time highs. According to Reuters, "A heavy build-up of long euro positions ahead of U.S. data left the market very vulnerable to a pullback once the euro failed to break to new record highs in the wake of those reports...We had two doses of bad U.S. numbers and the euro's failure to push above $1.29 has prompted some profit taking." /LI>

• 12:17 ET Market to lows of day amid reports Senate building evacuated after fire alarm :

• 10:46 ET Suspicious powder found at post office in New Jersey -- AP :

• 08:58 ET Gold Oil and Dollar Summary : The Dollar sinks to multi-year lows against the Sterling and Aussie dollar as it nears its all-time lows against the 07:46 ET MSFT: Microsoft investigating code leak -- FT 26.95: The Financial Times reports Microsoft (MSFT) said late on Thursday night that parts of its Windows source code, the closely guarded blueprint behind its dominant operating system, had been illegally leaked onto the internet. According to the article, incomplete portions of the Windows 2000 and Windows NT source code were being traded over the web.

• 07:41 ET Reminder: U.S. Markets will be closed Monday for Washington's Birthday :

Guy Boscart,