Euro Concerns Weigh on U.S. Stocks, Bill Vaughn Tells Wall Street Journal

May 14, 2010

U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday on investor concerns that the European Union will find it difficult to implement a nearly $1 trillion bailout for its most heavily indebted members, Bill Vaughn, equity portfolio manager at Evercore Wealth Management, told the Wall Street Journal.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 162.79 points, or 1.5%, at 10620.16

"The concerns are really more risk first, currency-adjusted earnings second," he said, noting that consumer staples showed less of a decline on Friday, despite significant European exposure, likely because they are viewed as safer, steadier investments.

"The European Central Bank's view of sanitizing the debt is maybe not quite the same as how the Fed acted in this country," with its quantitative easing program, Vaughn added. "There's concern that it still might not fully address the problem they have."