Europe still a pain, despite Spain

Post date: Jun 11, 2012 10:14:39 PM

Summary of business headlines: Wall Street’s love affair with a Spanish bank bailout was short lived; Saudis set to call for OPEC boost; Apple expands Siri's voice, but walks on Google’s turf.

USA-USCLOSE - Wall Street's "amor" of Spain's 100-billion-euro bank bailout quickly turned into just a fling... leaving the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq broken hearted, closing near session lows by the end of the day.

The Spanish bank bailout was bigger-than-expected but investors are still nervous about what's ahead, says Michael Shaoul of Marketfield Asset Management.

MICHAEL SHAOUL, CHAIRMAN, MARKETFIELD ASSET MANAGEMENT SAYING

"We are one step nearer to the sharing of financial obligations throughout the euro zone, whether or not we actually meet that end point of fiscal union is very unclear at this point in time, but this is just one short episode in what's going to be a very, very long story."

Saudi Arabia is calling for a boost in oil output ahead of an OPEC meeting later this week. An unexpected call given NYMEX crude prices are down 25 percent from their intra-day peak of the year and demand is slowing. The comments were quickly criticized by other OPEC members who blame a surplus in supply for weaker prices.

Apple is looking to talk up the competition with Google and Android. Siri, the voice-search service, will now be on iPads and in more languages; there's closer integration of Facebook; and a 3D mapping service to take on Google Maps. Separately: there's also a new Mac Book Pro, but unfortunately, no talk of iTV in Tim Cook's first appearance at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as CEO.

Finishing up with Europe, stocks finished lower as debt worries overshadowed the Spain bank bailout.

Conway Gittens, Reuters