U.S. SUMMARY: Shares weak; commodities rebound

Index Change Percent change

*DJIA 10609.66 -449.36 -4.06

*Nasdaq 2098.85 -109.05 -4.94

*S&P 500 1156.39 -57.21 -4.71

Nymex crude $97.16 $+6.01

10 yr US

treasury 3.42 percent

*Wednesday’s close

STOCKS: Wall Street plunged again Wednesday as anxieties about the financial system ran high after the government’s bailout of insurer American International Group Inc. and left investors with little confidence in many banking stocks.

FOREX: The dollar sank Wednesday in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve’s bailout of AIG as investors worried that Wall Street’s problems were far from over.

The 15-nation currency jumped to $1.4376 in late New York trading Wednesday from $1.4156 late Tuesday.

The British pound surged to $1.8245 from $1.7864, while the dollar slipped to 105.24 Japanese yen from 105.82.

BONDS: Demand for short-duration Treasurys surged Wednesday, sending the yield on the 3-month treasury bill briefly into negative territory for the first time since 1940, as investors rushed for the closest thing to cash.

OIL: Oil prices shot up $6 a barrel Wednesday, rebounding as fears of a spreading crisis in the U.S. financial sector sent skittish investors scrambling out of stocks and into hard assets.

METALS: Gold prices exploded Wednesday — posting the biggest one-day gain ever in dollar terms — as fears of more credit market turmoil unnerved investors and triggered a flood of safe-haven buying.

Gold for December delivery rose as much as $90.40, or 11.6 percent, to $870.90 an ounce in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after jumping $70 to settle at $850.50 in the regular session. That was the biggest one-day price jump ever; gold’s previous single-day record was a $64 gain on Jan. 29, 1980. In percentage terms, it was gold’s largest one-day advance since 1999.

Silver prices also jumped. The December contract soared $1.158 to settle at $11.675 an ounce. December copper, however, fell 4.65 cents to settle at $3.0425 a pound.

ASIA SUMMARY: Shares weak; gold up 5 percent

Index Change Percent change

Nikkei 225 11324.60 -425.19 -3.62 (0420 GMT)

S&P/ASX 200 4541.70 -180.50 -3.82 (0420 GMT)

Hang Seng 16366.30 -1270.89 -7.21 (0420 GMT)

Seoul Composite 1367.49 -57.77 -4.05 (0420 GMT)

BSE Sensex 12558.14 -704.76 -5.31 (0430 GMT)

usd-yen 104.50 (Intra-day trade)

STOCKS: Asian stocks tumbled 3-4 percent on Thursday, with emergency actions by central banks and governments around the world failing to ease a financial crisis that has sent investors fleeing to gold and government bonds.

BONDS: Japanese government bond futures edged higher on Thursday but gains were limited after this week’s volatile swings, due to worries about investor demand at a 20-year bond auction.

The benchmark 10-year JGB yield rose 1.5 basis point to 1.500 percent, well off a five-month low of 1.375 percent hit on Tuesday.

FOREX: The dollar fell against the euro and yen in volatile trade on Thursday as losses in U.S. investment banking stocks and doubts over the bailout of insurer AIG fuelled fears over the stability of the financial sector.

OIL: Oil was little changed around $97 a barrel on Thursday after surging $6 a day ago after a fall in weekly U.S. crude stocks and the deepening crisis on Wall Street triggered a renewed wave of buying in select commodities.

U.S. light crude futures for October delivery edged up 25 cents to $97.41 a barrel, after earlier touching an intra-day high of $98.14 a barrel, the strongest since Friday.

METALS: Gold rallied more than 5 percent on Wednesday as a hike in the oil price on the back of the U.S. government rescue of American International Group triggered short covering.

EUROPE SUMMARY: Shares weak; commodities surge

Index Change Percent change

*FTSE 4912.40 -113.20 -2.25

*DAX 5860.98 -104.19 -1.75

*CAC 4000.11 -87.29 -2.14

*Wednesday’s close

STOCKS: Britain’s benchmark share index lost 2.3 percent on Wednesday to hit its lowest close since mid 2005, as investors dumped financial stocks fearing more chaos from a credit crisis that has roiled Wall Street banks.

Weakness in European stocks on Wednesday capped a global equities recovery sparked by the U.S. government bailout of cash-strapped insurer AIG and interbank lending rates remained stubbornly high.

FOREX: Sterling fell against the euro and erased early gains against the dollar on Wednesday, undermined by continued banking sector jitters and data showing the biggest jump in UK jobless numbers since 1992.

Sterling initially rose against the dollar after news of rescue plan for insurer AIG but it gave up those gains as shares in UK lender HBOS dropped, with investors remaining nervous over financial sector health.

At 0925 GMT, the euro had gained 0.6 percent to 79.63 pence, whole the pound was flat at $1.7871, well off the day’s highs at $1.7979.

The pound was also undermined after figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the UK claimant count leapt by 32,500 in August, its biggest rise since December 1992.

BONDS: Bund futures slipped in morning trading on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve’s rescue of struggling insurer AIG boosted European shares and cooled some demand for safe-haven government debt.

By 0826 GMT, December futures were down 25 ticks at 115.18, compared with 115.43 at Tuesday’s settlement close. Futures slid as low as 114.95, down more than a full point from 116.13 hit the previous day for the first time since April.

Bunds were down on the day, but recovered from session lows on the view that, while the rescue of AIG had prevented a severe market meltdown for the time, credit conditions would remain tight for the foreseeable future.

OIL: Brent crude oil on the ICE Futures exchange rose towards $92.00 a barrel on Wednesday after prices tested support levels on Tuesday.

METALS: Gold rallied more than 5 percent on Wednesday as a hike in the oil price on the back of the U.S. government rescue of American International Group triggered short covering.

Spot gold rose to a session high of $818.80 an ounce before settling back to $811.60/813.20 an ounce at 1426 GMT, up from Tuesday’s nominal New York close of $775.55.

Source: http://www.afxnews.com

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