Equity sectors: Financials are the worst space in the market $GS $XLF $FAZDiscretionary is also off 1.25% on weakness in autos and IGT

• Equity sectors: Financials are the worst space in the market, falling over 1.25% on weakness pretty much across the board. Industrials are off 1.25% on weakness in homebuilders, airlines, and building products.
• Discretionary is also off 1.25% on weakness in autos and IGT. Energy is  in line with the tape, although refiners are weighing on the group due to lower crack spreads.
• Tech is slightly ahead of the tape as strength in JNPR, NOVL, and ERTS offsets weakness in semis (SOX off over 1.25%). Materials are outperforming a bit on strength in gold stocks and CF, although steels continue to act poorly and paper stocks also weigh on the group. Telecom is off just under 0.5%, outperforming on strength in VZ. Staples are off under 0.2% and outperforming on strength in beverages, DF, and HSY.
• Utilities are flattish on the day, outperforming the market on a defensive bid as investors look to reduce beta. Healthcare is up close to 0.25% on the day, the top space in the market, on strength in biotechs (AGN, GENZ, BIIB, and CELG) on news that Sanofi is looking to acquire a biotech company in the US.

Energy-Energy was one of the worst sectors in the market on weakness across the board despite flattish crude.$XLE

· Energy was one of the worst sectors in the market on weakness across the board despite
flattish crude.

· Integrateds were off around 5%, led lower by BP which now sits around a 14-year low after falling over 9% this week. A lot of noise came out on BP / Gulf but in the end it’s a lot of the same…the spill is still ongoing, Obama is still looking to come down harshly on BP, and there is still uncertainty over BP’s future.

Greece’s 7yr sale on Mon continues to trade poorly in the secondary market…

         Greece's 7yr sale on Mon continues to trade poorly in the secondary market…according to the FT today: Greece still has big problems," said a senior banker. "The Greek bond syndication was very disappointing. Investors still do not have faith in Greece and are only prepared to buy the bonds for higher yields." (FT) 

Wall Street Power Surge: Questions of Energy Policy and Finance After Connecticut Power Plant Explosion - ABC News

Wall Street Power Surge: Questions of Energy Policy and Finance After Connecticut Power Plant Explosion - ABC News

Goldman Sachs has attracted a long line of critics and conspiracy theorists convinced the Wall Street bank is at the root of many an economic catastrophe.

The Kleen Energy plant is seen in this aerial photo after an explosion in Middletown, Conn., Sunday, Feb. 7, 2010.

(Jessica Hill/AP Photo)
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But after a deadly power plant explosion in Middletown, Conn., involving a company called Kleen Energy, even members of the conspiracy crowd might have been surprised to learn that the natural gas-fueled plant was being built by a private equity fund and that it had been bankrolled by Goldman.

And while no one is suggesting the bank's involvement underwriting the nearly $1 billion project would have in any way compromised safety -- indeed, the exact cause of the explosion is still under investigation -- the incident does call attention to the ever-growing alignment between a shifting national energy policy and the Wall Street financiers who hope to profit from the green movement.

In terms of promoting clean energy, greed, for lack of a better word, is good, power industry members said.

"In simple terms, the clean fuel industry is dead without Wall Street funding," said Karl Miller, a former Wall Street banker, power industry executive and energy investor.

Goldman's financing, a complex debt issuance sold mainly to European banks, got done just a few months before the financial market meltdown of autumn 2008. Kleen, in fact, was to be among the biggest power plants in the Northeast and the hope was that its becoming operational would eventually reduce electric bills in Connecticut, which gets most of its power from out-of-state providers.

Coal-fired power plants are seen as Environmental Enemy No. 1, and the backlash against them opened the door for the Kleen project and others like it.

While coal fired plants still produce roughly half of all the kilowatt hours of electricity consumed in the United States, natural gas, which a decade ago accounted for just 10 percent of electricity produced, now accounts for upwards of 20 percent, according to the Edison Electric Institute. Hydro and alternative sources make up the balance.

With the backlash against carbon emissions only growing, coal-fired power plants could soon be a thing of the past.