Gold, Oil Take a Breather
U.S. bond markets were closed on Monday in observance of Veteran’s Day.
The yen surged today on pervasive worries about U.S. equity and economic
strength. The yen rallied strongly last week, as traders unwound carry trades,
buying back borrowed yen to cover riskier asset positions. Generally, the yen
rallies on equity weakness, and falls on equity strength. Today, the yen hit
yearly highs versus the dollar. Dollar weakness has been another currency highlight in the past few weeks,
with the dollar hitting fresh lows consistently, on general economic worries.
Today, the dollar rallied with the yen. The dollar rose against the Canadian dollar and British pound today.
Crude oil futures fell about 2%, pulling back further from recent all-time
records near $100. Crude fell today, mostly on sentiment that slowing U.S.
growth will hurt energy demands. Slowing demand from China also helped to create
a somewhat bearish tone for today’s oil trading. Crude has been skyrocketing
over the past few months on Middle East tensions and worrying demand levels.
Natural gas futures rose about 1.4%.
Gold futures fell nearly 4% sinking from near decades-old highs, in line with
falling crude prices. Gold normally trades inversely to the dollar and with
crude oil, and today, gold traded with energy prices. Dollar strength versus the
euro also helped to push gold prices lower. Copper futures fell 1.7%, in line
with gold.
Grains were lower today. Soybeans fell about 0.8%, while corn dropped 2%.
Stocks reversed course during the afternoon to close lower, with tech
stocks remaining especially weak. Click
here to read the rest of today’s
Stock Market Recap.
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