Daily Commodity Roundup: Corn Climbs On Weather, Copper Tumbles On Weak Manufacturing
August opened up with a bang to say the least, as today went down as one of the most peculiar trading days in recent memory. It was one of a just of a handful of times that the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up over 1% only to give up those gains and fall down to -1% within the next hour. After a tumultuous day, the index finished just about flat, leaving traders frustrated as they were taken for quite the ride on a day when most expected stocks to rally. These rally hopes came after the Obama Administration announced their most recent debt deal to Congress with the possibility of the measure being voted on as early as tonight. While some are still pledging to not let the proposed legislation through, they may be forced to swallow their pride in an effort to keep our economy afloat.
Daily Commodity Roundup: Cotton Soars On Crop Outlook, Copper Gains On Major Strike
Today truly proved to many investors why commodities are such an important aspect of any portfolio; major equities struggled due to yet another day without a debt deal, while nearly every major commodity finished up on the day. Though the strong commodity performance was partly due to a struggling dollar, a number of other factors converged to give some futures an especially robust day as far as performance is concerned. While gold put in a positive day, oil finished relatively flat, while the UBS Bloomberg CMCI index gained a healthy 15.7 points in today’s session. Though many commodity indexes are down from their April highs, the past few weeks have slowly formed an upward trend, giving investors hope for a strong future performance.
Daily Commodity Roundup: Copper Gains On Housing Starts, Silver Crashes On Strong Equities
Markets saw a healthy rebound today as earnings season helped to lift equities from their dismal spin that has been in effect for the last few trading sessions. After gold made yet another historic run yesterday, it fell back below the $1,600 per ounce mark as investors gained some optimism on the U.S. plan to handle the enormous debt and the ceiling which we have just hit. Oil, on the other hand, made strong gains on the day, as it turned a gain of over 1.6% moving nicely along with equities. As for major commodity indexes, the UBS Bloomberg CMCI Index gained 14.5 points while the S&P GSCI saw a drop of about 6.3 points. While the strong economic indicators were good news for a handful of futures, it put downward pressure on others that are more closely aligned with safe haven appeal, as the risky commodities saw inflows at their expense … See the full story here
Daily Commodity Roundup: Corn Freefalls As Copper Surges To Nine-Week High
After a rough couple of weeks, markets have finally pushed their way back on track with their fourth straight winning day, as the S&P 500 jumped over 1% on strong Chicago PMI numbers and declining unemployment claims to end the quarter. Though investors are experiencing déjà vu with yet another Greek austerity package, we can only sit back and hope that it turns out better this time around and that the highly indebted country is able to get its act together with this latest round of measures. The U.S. dollar saw a dip of approximately 0.37% on the day, giving numerous commodities a healthy boost, though arguably the most popular commodity, gold, dipped just below the $1,500 per ounce mark to close out the first half of 2011 thanks to declining levels of risk aversion [see also Don’t Fight The Curve: Five Commodity ETFs in Backwardation].