US Dollar, Japanese Yen Remain Strong as Stock Market Futures Drop on Disappointing Earnings

The US dollar and Japanese yen remain strong across the majors as risk aversion lingers in the markets. Indeed, commodities are down slightly while demand for government bonds is up, and yet, European stock markets are holding up fairly well. It remains to be seen if the US equity markets will do the same as DJIA and S&P 500 futures are both down more than 1.5%. News this morning that Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. sold 7.3 million shares in Ford Motor Co. and may sell the rest of the stake has hurt investor sentiment, as Kerkorian was the largest individual shareholder of the firm outside of the Ford family. Indeed, the transaction suggests he no longer believes the automaker can be revived. Furthermore, weak earnings reports from Texas Instruments Inc. and banks including National City Corp. and Fifth Third Bancorp highlight the fact that the markets still have to face earnings season, which is likely to be very disappointing amidst the economic slowdown and financial crisis.