Friday: Market Report

It seems that everybody is on holiday or networking in Jackson Hole Wyoming at a Fed symposium. Commodity prices have been soaring. Traders are focused on what the US authorities might be planning for Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE).

Thursday trading in NY was again quiet and again in a narrow range from the previous day’s close. Crude Oil prices, which had starting lifting the previous day, zoomed from about 6am ET to about 10:30am, closing the session at 121.18 (+$5.62/bbl). That’s a two-day gain of $6.64/bbl.

Precious metal traders didn’t miss the point of a crashing $USD either as $GOLD jumped +$22.70/oz to 839.00. The $USD plunged -1.07% to 76.11, while the Euro (+1.04% to 1.4901), Yen (+1.29% to 92.18), Pound (+0.83% to 187.74) and Loonie (+1.71% to 95.89) all soared.

Yesterday, the DJIA (+12.78 +0.11% to 11430.21), S&P 500 (+3.18 +0.25% to 1277.72), and NASDAQ Composite (-8.70 -0.37% to 2380.38) were mixed, but quiet.

In Canada, the Toronto Exchange Composite gained +1.4% to 13539 and the Venture Board gained +1.6% to 1950. The Venture stocks index has gained +2.51% in two days, while the senior stocks on the Toronto exchange gained +3.61%, so the trading is mostly institutionally oriented at the moment.

The strongest sector in NY yesterday was Energy again (XLE +2.5%), for a two-day gain of +5.4%. Financials again were the big loser (XLF -1.8%), for a two-day loss of -3.0%.

Airlines ($XAL -4.1%), for a two-day loss of -7.4%, were flattened by the hammer of soaring oil prices. The Integrated Oils ($XOI) and Oil Services ($OSX) each gained +2.1%.

According to the NOAA Weather Advisory at 5:00am, Fay is likely to remain a “minimal tropical storm” with heavy rainfall, with a forecasted northerly direction later today or tomorrow, taking the 50 mph winds away from the Gulf oilfields.

Of the extreme Cara 100 stocks, the big gainers were commodity plays again, led by Goldcorp (GG +7.6%), Barrick (ABX +6.8%), Statoil (STO +6.7%), Cameco Uranium (CCJ +5.8%) and Canadian oil sands plays Suncor (SU) and Imperial Oil (IMO). Bill Gates and Warren Buffett visited the oil sands for a personal inspection. The loser was Indian bank ICICI (IBN -4.1%).

The long bond ($USB) lost -0.26% to 117.73, as the $USD crashed. The T-Bill yield lifted a bit to 1.685.

Earlier today, the Asia-Pacific equity markets were mixed: Australia’s All Ords index (up +1.22% to 5010.2); Shanghai (-1.09% to 2405.2); Hong Kong (closed); India’s Sensex (+0.98% to 14383.4); and Japan’s Nikkei (-0.68% to 12666.0).

At about 6:19am ET in Europe, markets are stronger as the Financials are up in the morning: the French CAC is up +0.69%; the German DAX +0.61%; and the UK FTSE +1.03%.

This morning at 6:10am ET, the $USD is stronger at 76.645 (+0.315); and the Euro/USD at 1.4807 (-0.05%).

Crude Oil futures are down -0.47/bbl to 120.71.

The DJIA futures at 6:10am ET are at 11426, up +18.

Gold, palladium, platinum and silver futures at 6:10am ET are looking a bit weaker.

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