Stocks
After an early rally in European equity indexes, stocks spent most of the day around unchanged levels. The FTSE 100 closed 14.5 points higher to 5365 after hitting a high of 5410, while the DAX shed 50 points from its highs to close at 6207. Only the CAC 40 was able to keep most of its gains and close a respectable 0.80% higher at 3666.
In the US the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were both lower while the Dow managed to eke out a small 0.12% gain. Plaguing US stocks was a worse than expected Consumer Confidence figure which created negative sentiment in the markets and countered positive earnings reports from market leader DuPont.
Looking ahead, traders will be watching German CPI figures along with US Durable Goods figures tomorrow.
Commodities
Commodity prices took a hit today as the aforementioned Consumer Confidence numbers led traders to believe that a weaker economy will curtail demand. Leading the way lower was Gold which dropped over $20 to 1158, its lowest level since early May. Fellow metal Silver, also faced selling pressure as it is $18.00 support level was broken, and it traded down to $17.60. The move lower in Gold follows yesterday’s drop, which occurred even as other metals were moving higher. This appears to be indicating that traders are rotating assets out of Gold as inflation has been in check.
In other news, September Crude Oil futures were $1.90 lower to 77.00. The drop brough volatility back to Crude Oil prices which has been trading in narrow intraday ranges over the past six trading sessions. Volatility is expected to continue tomorrow with the release of US Crude Oil Inventory numbers.
