iPads

Following yesterday's surprisingly hawkish minutes, the market held on to hope that either vice Chair Fischer, or former Goldmanite Bill "edible ipads" Dudley would provide at least some dovish counter to a Fed that suddenly has taken out all the wind from the market's sails. That did not happen earlier when Fischer refused to comment on monetary policy, while moments ago Bill Dudley deliver "Opening Remarks at the Economic Press Briefing on the U.S.

Back in 1998, when Pfizer introduced Viagra it charged so much for the novelty, much needed drug (which millions of men would literally pay anything for) that it sent the entire pharma/drug price index soaring by nearly 15% for about a year. This can be seen, appropriately enough, in the spike on the chart below.

For those who thought that the world's biggest company losing over $40 billion in market cap in an instant on disappointing Apple earnings, would have been sufficient to put a dent in US equity futures, we have some disappointing news: with just over 7 hours until the FOMC reveals its April statement, futures are practically unchanged, even though the Nasdaq appears set for an early bruising in the aftermath of what is becoming a disturbing quarter for tech companies. "It’s pretty disappointing,” Angus Nicholson, an analyst at IG Ltd., told Bloomberg.

First it was Twitter, now it is consumer tech titan AAPL's turn to tumble. For those pressed for time, here is the breakdown:

A reader writes: