 Commentary: December 1, 2008
Written by CMC Markets
In Today's Issue:
North American Indices and Commodities: Markets Turn Lower on Additional Recession Fears
Equity markets have turned sharply lower this morning. While early trading suggested that some profit-taking may be occurring following last week's rally, selling pressure appears to have intensified following the release of weak US economic data. The US ISM Manufacturing survey reading for November was 36.2, below the 37.0 expected by the street and October's 38.9 reading. The prices paid component came in at 25.5, well below the widely expected 32.0 and last month's 37.0 reading. US construction spending declined by 1.2% in October, slightly worse than the 1.0% decline expected. While this data suggests that US economic activity remained slow through November, it also suggests that inflation pressures have eased dramatically, which may enable governments to continue taking moves to stimulate the global economy.
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Commentary: November 28, 2008
Written by CMC Markets
In Today's Issue:
North American Indices and Commodities: Commodities Test Key Support Levels as Equity Markets Stay On Vacation Equity markets, particularly in the US, have been trading close to flat today with many market participants still away for the Thanksgiving holiday. Note that today is a shortened session with US markets scheduled to close at 1:00 pm ET. Since completing double bottoms a week ago, US equity markets have been steadily advancing in step patterns of rallies followed by consolidation at higher levels. This type of trading generally suggests increased accumulation and buyer support for equities. Currently, a number of key equity indices have been trading near significant resistance levels, but at this point, it appears that those levels may hold through the weekend with significant tests possible on Monday. These include: 8,800 for the Dow Industrials (US30 CFD), 900 for the S&P 500 (SPX500 CFD) and 1,200 for the NASDAQ 100. Next resistance levels should these be overcome include: 9,000 and 9,150 for the Dow, 925 and 950 for the S&P and 1,250 and 1,300 for the NASDAQ. Support currently appears near 8,500, 850 and 1,150 respectively.
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Commentary: November 27, 2008
Written by CMC Markets
In Today's Issue:
North American Indices and Commodities: Typical US Holiday Trading In addition to turkey and football, another US Thanksgiving tradition has been playing out today. That is, markets which remain open in other countries tend to be very quiet both in terms of trading activity and volume. In Canada today, the S&P/TSX 60 (Toronto60 CFD) has been trading on either side of flat for most of the day, while the FTSE 100 (UK100 CFD) posted a 1.3% gain. Commodity markets have also generally been quiet with UK (Brent) Crude retreating moderately in what appears to be a normal correction following a rally yesterday. Brent has remained above the key $50.00/bbl level despite the weakness, which suggests that crude may be continuing to base build. One thing that investors may note, however, is that the political risk element of crude trading appears to have gone away for now and crude appears to be primarily driven by concerns over underlying demand.
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