The energies and commodity stocks were hit midday. The problem was in the bond market: once the 3-year auction results were announced at 1pm ET (they were poor), Treasurys yields began backing up across the board.
This put upside pressure on the dollar. The dollar was up against currencies from virtually all countries, including the euro and the Aussie dollar.
The issues: commodity inflation and a belief that the U.S. economy is strengthening.
Some traders had expected the euro to strengthen on word that the Irish parliament had passed the first in a series of votes on the budget, which meant that bailout money would be released shortly. While this is true, it was no match for the dollar's relentless climb.
Elsewhere: NYSE consolidated tape volume today was 7.4 billion shares, very heavy, but 3.2 billion of that was Citi — including 238 million shares at the close as Standard and Poor's rebalanced Citi in the S&P 500. Citi normally trades about 400 million shares a day.
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