[BRIEFING.COM] In recent action, the stock market and select commodities rallied on positive economic data. At the top of the hour, August PMI Manufacturing data was reported at 56.3 versus the 52.9 Briefing.com consensus and versus 55.5 in July.
The US Dollar Index is trading near session lows of 82.194, providing additional price support this morning in select commodities. In sum, energy markets are strong, while precious metals are trading near session lows.
December crude oil has been in positive territory since the overnight session. Just before 8:30am ET, crude began to rally, and after extending gains at the top of the hour, crude pushed to session highs of $73.85 per barrel. Ahead of inventory data, crude was just under those highs. Following the data, which showed a build of 3.4 million barrels versus consensus that called for a build of 1.2 million barrels, crude saw a modest pullback, but has since recovered and put in new session highs of $74.07 per barrel. Currently, crude is 2.9% higher at $73.98 per barrel.
December natural gas was in the red overnight and this morning before rallying into positive territory and new session highs of $3.88 per MMBtu when pit trading began. Currently, natural gas is 1.7% higher at $3.83 per MMBtu.
December gold pulled back at the open of pit trading, after hitting levels not seen in two months. Gold fell to session lows in recent activity of $1246.20 per ounce and is currently just above that level at $1247.00 per ounce, down 0.2%. December silver was also higher this morning, pushing to levels not seen in nine weeks. However, silver pulled back along with gold this morning, falling back to new session lows and is currently 0.5% lower at $19.34 per ounce.
