@@@@ COMMODITIES - THE WEEK GONEBY @@@@ COMMODITIES - THE WEEK GONEBY A major index of world equities ended little changed on a light day of trading on Friday, while U.S. crude oil rebounded from recent declines. The U.S. stock market slipped at the end of a thinly traded, abbreviated session following Thursdays Thanksgiving holiday. The S&P 500 has gained 27 percent so far in 2013, with the seasonally strong month of December to come. The MSCI All-World Index lost 0.02 percent to 401.80, after earlier rising to a level not seen since Jan. 2, 2008. Prices of U.S. Treasuries ended Friday near session highs, still mildly lower, as late month-end index-tied buying helped long end Treasuries. Treasuries also drew late support too by buying as U.S. stock indexes weakened late, with talk of order imbalances and sell orders in stocks. Looking forward, this weeks 2/5/7Y auctions will settle Mon, Dec. 2. In U.S. stocks, the shortened session saw the Dow industrial close down 10.92 at 16,086.41. The S&P 500 slipped 1.42 to 1,805.81. The Nasdaq composit rose 15.14 or 0.37% to 4,059.89. NYMEX January light sweet crude settled up $0.42 at $92.73 per barrel, after trading in a $92.12 to $93.90 range. In light flows, the recent down trend was broken on reports of Libya further reducing its output, leading to short covering, which was exaggerated on a break of $0.9300 which proved to be unsustainable, and the rally corrected back to NY opening levels. Spot gold was closing around $1251,30/oz, on the high side of the days range of $1240.94 to $1255.17 range. The precious metal has made valiant attempts to break and hold above $1250 most of this week, but there has been no follow through, which keeps players on the defensive. In currencies, unsurprisingly with no speakers on the schedule, the dollar-yen market became becalmed and traded at Y102.43 and Y139.3. The euro reacted to the weak close in equities, triggering some stops below the previous days low of $1.3596, down to a low of $1.3583 before dip buyers emerged to steady the decline in light volumes. Toward the close the rate was $1.3590. In the currency market, the euro edged lower against the dollar to $1.3588. The dollar rose to 102.44 against the yen in light volume. Investors have been using the yen as a funding currency for carry trades, with the Bank of Japan committed to keeping ultra-loose monetary policy to shore up growth. That is in contrast to the U.S. Federal Reserve, which is moving toward unwinding its $85 billion-a-month bond-buying campaign. Meanwhile, the ICE dollar index DXY +0.07% DXY +0.07% lost 0.2% to trade at 80.562 on Friday. A weaker dollar can lift commodities priced in the currency. Read more »
Posted on: Sun, 01 Dec 2013 11:11:30 +0000
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