- Stocks flat
- March retail sales better than expected
- Apple slumps

Wall Street was broadly flat through Monday morning as investors weighed improving retail sales against a worsening picture on European debt.

US retail sales rose 0.8% in March, significantly better than expected, and following an upwardly revised gain of 1% in February.

Spanish 10 year bond yields rose to over 6% as the Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, reiterated the gravity of his country's position saying the "fundamental objective at the moment is to reduce the deficit...If we don't achieve this, the rest won't matter: we won't be able to fund our debt."

COMPANIES

The most valuable company in the world by market capitalisation, Apple, had fallen 2.95% on the NASDAQ by 12:33 New York time, it appears the sell off may be profit taking but the stock has now seen five continuous days of falls.

The owners of 82 newspapers, including USA Today, Gannett, had fallen 9% by 12:36 on news revenues at its publishing division had dropped significantly. The company is locked in what looks like a losing battle with internet firms like Google for ad income.

The world's biggest toy maker Mattel was down 8.8% at 12:39 on news sales were down in the first quarter.

OTHER MARKETS

Front month futures for a barrel of West texas crude were down 0.73% at 12:21 in New York at $102.08.

The dollar had gained 0.06% against the euro by 12:37 to sit at $1.3070.

BS

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