Why The US Dollar Didn’t Finish Stronger Against All Currencies
Today’s announcement by America’s
top military engineer in the Gulf that Iraqi forces still hold 40% of the
Rumaila oil fields, took some of the wind out of yesterday’s equity rally and
helped crude finish higher on the day.
Equities
Along with the geopolitical news, negative
comments by Wall Street analysts about AT&T and other telecom carriers weighed
on the Dow and S&P. The S&P
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and the Dow
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however, bucked the trend and climbed 5 to close at 1067.00;
Fixed Income
Gains on the front end of the curve were helped
by higher weekly jobless claims and weaker service ISM data. The 10 year contract
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was up 0-060, closing at 114-090; the 30 year
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closing at 111-17, and the five year note finished
up 0-040 to close at 113-050
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Metals
Silver
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metals today, climbing 1.1 to finish at 4.413. Gold was lower for a third
day, falling by 4.7 again, to finish at 325.70
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Energy
Natural
gas was down .146 on the back of higher-than-expected inventory numbers, which
were released by the Energy Department, and closed at 4.919
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the other hand, crude futures were up .41 to close at 28.97
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the comments by the US armed forces staff about the Iraqi oil fields.
Currencies
The Canadian and Australian dollars both finished
stronger for the day, as investors build their expectations for a rebound in the
global economy. These two countries are big exporters of natural resources and
tend to track commodity prices and global economic cycles. But overall, the USD index
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up another .23 and
finished at 100.78.