The News That Made Equities So Volatile Today
The markets reversed course
today after Saddam failed to appear on
TV to address the Iraqi
people–as had been scheduled by the Iraqi government–raising doubts about his
survival. As a result, gold and oil finished lower while the US dollar and
equities climbed higher.
Equities
Equities started the day off on a sour note, as a
poorer-than-expected ISM and continued concerns about Iraq weighed on the
markets. Then at about 12:00 PM ET, after Saddam failed to appear at his public
address, the markets turned around and pushed into positive territory. Better-than-expected Challenger Layoff survey added more fuel to the rally. But
by
mid-afternoon, the markets gave back some of their gains as news broke out about
a US commercial jetliner being quarantined in San Jose over concerns about
possible SARS carriers on board. The S&P
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up 85 to finish at 8025. And the Nasdaq futures
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climbing 3.00 to close at 1024.00.
Fixed Income
Treasuries were mixed for the day. The 10 year contract
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was down 0-005, closing at 114-275; the 30 year
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up 0-005 to close at 113-165
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Metals
Gold was lower today, as Saddam decided,
willingly or unwillingly, to play hooky. The precious metal was down 1.6 to finish at 334.30
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4.437. Better-than-expected auto news helped the industrial metals today. And
copper was up 1.00 to finish at 72.45
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Energy
Oil prices fell today on the Iraq developments
and as Nigerian workers called off a general strike, raising hopes that oil
production, halted there by ethnic clashes, might soon restart. Crude futures
were down 1.26 to close at 29.78
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gas was up a slight .065 today and closed at 5.125
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Currencies
The US dollar staged a nice reversal against the
European currencies today. Overall, the USD index
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finished at 99.56.