The Australian equity market is set for weak open today after investors dumped overnight equities after a series of grim forecasts for the global economy, investors brought up assets that are considered safe such as the US dollar and Treasury bonds.
The Dow (see above chart) fell 391.01 points to close the session at 10733.83 while the S&P500 fell 3.2 per cent to finish the session at 1129.56, this is the fourth session in a row that both of the indices have fallen.
The AUDUSD is trading towards its lowest level in almost a year trading through parity overnight to lows of 0.9695 on fears of a global recession sent stocks and commodity prices tumbling in the United States and Europe.
The NZDUSD dropped from above the 0.8000 level to four month lows of 0.7760 after a government report showed that there was less than expected growth in the second quarter.
Gold futures slumped over 3.5 percent to a four week low of 1722.50 as the dollar rally cut demand for the metal as a safe haven asset. Silver futures dropped over 10 per cent to lows below the 36.00 per ounce overnight only to bounce in late trade, at time of writing this report it was trading at 36.58
WTI crude Oil dropped over 6.3 percent to a six week low of 79.54 per barrel after the the Fed acknowledged “significant” downside risks to the economy and noted “strains” in global financial markets.
INDICES
Last Traded
SPI 200 future 3890
S&P500 Index 1129.56
Dow Jones 10733.80
FTSE 100 Index 5041.60
COMMODITIES
Last Traded
Gold 1736.65
Oil (Nymex) 80.51
CURRENCIES
Last Traded
AUDUSD 0.9755
EURUSD 1.3458
GBPUSD 1.5342
USDJPY 76.30
Source
Bloomberg, Dow Jones News