Broad Sell-off in U.S. Stocks, World Markets Cautious

Nichole Harper
20 May, 2014
New York City

U.S. stocks trended lower and small cap led the decliners and extended five-week losses to near 9%. Credit Suisse agreed to a guilty plea and pay $2.6 billion fines to U.S. regulators. European markets declined on mixed earnings news.

[R]12:05 PM New York – U.S. stocks trended lower and small cap led the decliners and extended five-week losses to near 9%. Credit Suisse agreed to a guilty plea and pay $2.6 billion fines to U.S. regulators. European markets declined on mixed earnings news.[/R]

Market indexes on Wall Street declined and small cap companies and tech stocks led the decline.

S&P 500 index declined 3.46 to 1,881.62 and the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 12.14 to 4,113.06.

Credit Suisse Agrees to Guilty Plea

Credit Suisse Group AG agreed to a criminal wrongdoing as a part of a deal with the U.S. Justice Department for helping U.S. citizens to hide their wealth and income in offshore trusts.

The investment bank giant agreed to a single count of conspiring to aid tax evasion in a scheme that lasted decades and pay $2.6 billion in penalties.

The bank also agreed to hire an independent monitor to review operations in the U.S. and in Switzerland for up to two years.

The bank will pay $1.8 billion to the Justice Department, $100 million to the Fed and $715 million to New York State banking regulator.

The deal between the Justice Department and Credit Suisse was crafted in a way that will keep the bank from going out of business and not lead to cancellation of its banking license.

The felony criminal charge could lead the bank to losing its license but last week Securities and Exchange Commission voted to grant a temporary exemption according to sources in the Washing based regulatory agency.

World Markets

European markets traded lower after Vodafone Group Plc declined to a 14-month low and Credit Suisse agreed to a plea deal with the U.S. Justice Department.

Credit Suisse Group AG increased 1% after the company agreed to settle a three-year U.S. investigation and pay $2.6 billion in penalties and one count of felony charge of helping U.S. citizens to hide their assets and income.

In London trading, FTSE 100 index slipped 0.5% or 36.63 to 6,807.92 and in Frankfurt the DAX index slid 0.2% or 18.07 to 9,641.32.

In Paris, CAC 40 index fell 0.3% or 14.90 to 4,454.86.

Trading in yen provided direction to stocks and market averages gained at close after a choppy session.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 68.81 or 0.5% to 14,075.25 and the Topix index rose 3.31 to 1,153.38.

The yen closed higher at 101.44 against the U.S. dollar.

The Sensex Index rose 13.83 to close at 24,376.88 The CNX Nifty gained 11.95 to 7,275.50.

U.S. Stocks in Review

Dicks Sporting Goods Inc ((DKS)) plunged 16.7% or $8.89 to $44.27 after the retailer said first-quarter earnings rose to $70 million or 57 cents a share from $64.8 million or 52 cents.

Net sales in the quarter increased to $1.44 billion from $1.33 billion in the year ago quarter. Same store sales in the quarter increased 1.5%.

Home Depot, Inc ((HD)) increased 2% to $78.20 and home-supply retailer said sales increased 2.9% to $19.69 in the first-quarter and net income surged 12% to $1.38 billion or $1 a share.

Excluding one-time gain of 4 cents related to the sale of HD Supply stake.

Home Depot lifted its full-year earnings estimate to $4.42 per share from the previous estimate of $4.38 and announced a plan to $3.75 billion of additional shares in the current year.