• Markets have faced a rough patch the last two weeks.  In the month of May the S&P500 is down -3.2% thus far.
• The big news of the week was from JP Morgan.  There have been a variety of reports about how much their trading losses in Q2 have been thus far.  One report has the loss at $800 million.  Another report has the loss at $2 billion.  While another report says the loss could grow to $4 billion.  Ouch.  
• The Federal Reserve approved the first acquisition of a U.S. retail bank by a Chinese government owned lender. 

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This Week:

• Europe Watch:  Euro-zone finance ministers will meet on Monday to discuss the recent developments in Greece.  Francois Hollande becomes the new French President on Tuesday.  Hollande then travels to Germany  to have meetings with Chancellor Merkel.
• Facebook prices their IPO on Thursday (No recommendation given by me to buy or not buy).
• Camp David will be the spot for the Group of Eight summit starting on Friday. Europe’s issues are expected to be the main focus.
• As the quarterly earnings season winds down, mostly retailers report.  Companies reporting earnings:  Aeropostale, Buckle, Deere, Dicks Sporting Goods, Dollar Tree, Foot Locker, GameStop, Gap, Home Depot,  Intuit, J.C. Penney, Limited Brands, Progressive, Saks, Sears, Target, TJX, and Wal-Mart.
• Indicator focus:  April CPI, April retail sales, March business inventories (Tue);  April housing starts, April industrial production (Wed);  April leading indicators, and May Philly Fed survey (Thu).

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Best,

Chris

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