| Global Market Wrap-Up - August 20, 2010 |
August 21, 2010 - 7:22am — mhanna
U.S. indexes were down for the day but well off their session lows in a quiet Friday. There were no market moving earning reports, nor economic data to react to, and with the last weeks of summer, trading volumes were very light despite option expiration.
Crude oil fell 0.82% to finish off 2 ugly weeks of action, while gold dropped 0.5% and silver 1.8%.
Asian markets, which had closed Thursday before the sharp selloffs in Europe and the U.S. suffered some serious losses with the exception of India which was only down 0.3%. China fell 1.7% and Japan 2.0%. Japan is once more making noise about a new stimulus plan; yet another in a long line over the past 2 decades.
Mark Hanna, known in the financial community as "TraderMark," provides his insightful daily market coverage in this column, exclusive to Euro Pacific Capital.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Please feel free to repost with proper attribution and all links included.
Friday, August 20, 2010
By:
Mark Hanna Crude oil fell 0.82% to finish off 2 ugly weeks of action, while gold dropped 0.5% and silver 1.8%.
- Fears of a slowing U.S. economy sent most commodities prices lower Friday, including metals used in manufacturing.
- Traders are concerned about demand for metals and energy products a day after the Labor Department issued a downbeat unemployment report and the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia said manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic region has fallen this month. In addition, China is curbing lending and investment to keep its economic growth in check. That has investors around the world questioning whether Chinese companies will buy fewer raw materials.
Asian markets, which had closed Thursday before the sharp selloffs in Europe and the U.S. suffered some serious losses with the exception of India which was only down 0.3%. China fell 1.7% and Japan 2.0%. Japan is once more making noise about a new stimulus plan; yet another in a long line over the past 2 decades.
- Faced with meager growth and a strong yen, Japan's leaders are moving toward injecting more stimulus measures to fight a sharp slowdown in momentum. A new package would set Japan apart from the rest of the developed world, which is winding down stimulus steps even as worries grow about a cooling global economy. It will be a tricky task for Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who is also juggling a promise to reduce the country's massive debt and a possible challenge for leadership of the Democratic Party next month.
- Mexico's economy grew 7.6% in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the same 2009 period, the largest quarterly jump since the global economic crisis plunged the country into recession. In the first quarter the economy grew by 4.3%.
- The gross domestic product increase was driven mostly by a 7.8% growth in industrial output, a 7.4% increase in the service sector and a 4.8% climb in agricultural production.
Mark Hanna, known in the financial community as "TraderMark," provides his insightful daily market coverage in this column, exclusive to Euro Pacific Capital.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Please feel free to repost with proper attribution and all links included.
Investing in foreign securities involves risks, such as currency fluctuation, political risk, economic changes, and market risks. Precious metals are volatile, speculative, and high-risk investments. As with all investments, an investor should carefully consider his investment objectives and risk tolerance as well as any fees and/or expenses associated with such an investment before investing. International investing may not be suitable for all investors.
Dividend yields change as stock prices change, and companies may change or cancel dividend payments in the future. The fluctuation of foreign currency exchange rates will impact your investment returns if measured in U.S. dollars. Past performance does not guarantee future returns, investments may increase or decrease in value and you may lose money.
Security industry regulators would like you to know that our investment strategies are based partially on Peter Schiff’s personal economic forecasts which may not occur. His views are outside of the mainstream of current economic thought. Investors should carefully consider these facts before implementing our strategy.