Frederic Ruffy submits:

Sentiment

The major averages battled back from early losses and are trading mixed late Monday. The table was set for early losses after markets fell across Asia and Europe amid ongoing concerns about the implications of the SEC fraud charges against Goldman Sachs. Those worries seemed to overshadow better-than-expected earnings from Citi (C) as well a 1.6 percent increase in the List of Leading Indicators in March.

However, after sluggish action in the first half of trading, the tone improved and, with an hour left to trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 55 points. The tech-heavy NASDAQ is down 7 points ahead of earnings from IBM due out after the closing bell. The CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) hit a morning high of 19.55, but was recently down .19 to 18.17. Trading in the options market remains active, with about 7.7 million puts and 8.7 million calls traded.


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