U.S. equity markets took a short break today following a fierce three day run-up which saw the major indices reach their highest prices in almost a year.  The trend is up but today’s close near the lows could be an indication of a weaker opening tomorrow.  Investors have been buying almost any kind of early weakness lately so a weaker opening tomorrow may turn into a buying opportunity.

 

Treasury futures posted gains today.  December Bonds and Notes moved higher after equity markets began to weaken as traders decided to park some of there excess funds in fixed income instruments. 

 

The U.S. Dollar finished mixed against most major currencies.  Demand for higher risk assets seemed to be missing from the markets today which led to some profit-taking in the foreign currency markets.  The December British Pound finished lower, driven by concerns about a weak economy.  Clearly, the U.K. economy is lagging the U.S. and the Euro Zone economies. 

 

December Gold and December Silver finished lower as the Dollar strengthened.  Overbought conditions are leading some traders to believe that the recent gains may have been overdone.  Industrial metals such as October Platinum and December Copper also gave back some of their gains from earlier this week.  Nothing major happened fundamentally, so one can conclude that today’s weakness was mostly likely tied to profit-taking.

 

December Crude Oil finished slightly better but still below the key $75 area.  Traders seem to be waiting for some catalyst to push this market above the resistance.  Supply and demand issues continue to remain mixed.  Traders want to see concrete evidence that demand is picking up because of the global economic recovery before committing in a big way to the long side.

 

November Soybeans and December Corn gave more of this week’s earlier gains as thoughts of an early frost damaging the existing crop diminished.  The recent lows are holding but aggressive speculators seem to be missing.  In addition, no one seems to want to chase these markets higher given the projected size of the crop this year.