CALDEIRÃO DE BOLSA

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open for the first session of the second quarter Thursday, after the major averages racked up their fourth straight quarter of gains.

S&P downgrades USA Rating to AA-, outlook negative; Dolar, Futures sink

March 31 -- Stocks are slumping, driving the S&P 500 Index to an 18-month low, and dolar falls as rating agency Standard and Poor's lowered for the first time in recent years the long-term credit rating of United States of America.

S&P 1Y Futures are falling 5.4 percent in London, the highest drop since September 2008. Standard And Poor's, on a press release this morning stated that "it's a hard decision, yet the huge deficit and bugdet spending doesn't allow us to maintain a AAA rating, as there is a real, objective risk of default of our economy". "The market was giving us a clear signal after we saw corporate bonds having fewer risk premium than T-Bills".

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke are going to make an emergency depoiment this afternoon to calm down the markets and prevent a massive stock and forex crash all over the world.

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Last Updated: April 1, 2010 05:37 EDT