Daily Commodity Roundup: Silver Shines On Economic Woes, Cotton Tanks On Negative Outlook
Today saw markets further their plunge as fears of a U.S. default remained in investors’ minds. As it gets closer to the August second deadline, with the government failing to make any tangible progress on the debt ceiling, investors are growing more worried, which has sent equities on a roller coaster ride over the last few weeks. As for commodities, gold saw yet another historic breakthrough today as it finished above $1,600 per ounce for the first time ever. Gold’s climb proves that investors are more comfortable seeking safe havens for the time being in the precious metals arena, as they quickly move out of equity positions to wait out the storm. In aggregate, today saw the UBS Bloomberg CMCI index finish down 7.6 points while the S&P GSCI gained roughly 5.5 suggesting that commodities were pretty mixed overall.
Daily Commodity Roundup: Sugar Surges On Crop Concerns, Cotton Continues Tumble On Demand Fears
American markets floated upwards for much of Tuesday’s session until right before the close when Moody’s downgraded Ireland to ‘junk’ pushing equities sharply lower to close out the day. The heaviest losses came in the technology sector as the Nasdaq underperformed its counterparts, led lower by a nearly 1.7% loss in both Intel and Oracle. Utilities and basic materials, however, did manage to have solid days led by strength in natural resource prices and a desire for more safe haven investments in the space. Global markets were also in the red pretty much across the board as the Asia-Pacific region started the day with a nearly 1.8% loss in Australia and Shanghai, followed by a 3% tumble in the Hang Seng exchange. Meanwhile, in Europe, most benchmarks finished lower by about one percent although the Italian exchange did make back some of its losses, gaining 1.2% in Tuesday trading.
Daily Commodity Roundup: Cotton Plunges On Dollar Strength, Lean Hogs Soar On Chinese Demand
U.S. markets had a rough start to the week as fears over debt loads in Europe sent many investors running for safe havens. Losses were pretty much across the board in American equity markets as financials did the worst while health care came out relatively unscathed. Internationally, Asia started the day on a down note as the Hang Seng and the S&P ASX both finished the day lower by about 1.5% while Europe outdid their Asian counterparts as the French and German indexes both fell by over 2.3% while the Italian benchmark plunged by close to 4% on worries over that country’s debt. As a result of this international turmoil, many investors fled to safe havens such as the U.S. dollar and Treasury bonds, helping to send yields much lower on the day for most maturity levels of American debt. Unsurprisingly, this led to a risk off trade in commodities, … See the full story here
Daily Commodity Roundup: Wheat Soars While Cotton Sputters
Today saw markets at a standstill after one of the strongest weeks in 2011, with major indexes regaining much of the ground that was lost over the last few months. But just as the celebrating of the Greek austerity package went underway, Moody’s cut its debt rating for Portugal, pushing stocks back lower in Tuesday trading. Commodities, on the other hand, had very strong days led by strength in the metal and energy markets. Oil and gold were two of the big winners with both gaining around 2%, with gold shooting back above the $1,500 per ounce level, which it briefly dipped below at the close of last week. In this shortened holiday week, investors hope to see July start off with the same momentum that June ended with, but continuing worries from the euro-zone may reverse the bullish trend that has been exhibited in the past few trading sessions.
