Oil Gains After Dropping Below $30 Before U.S. Stockpile Data

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Oil rose before weekly U.S. stockpile data, snapping a three-day losing streak that had pushed prices to close below $30 a barrel.

Futures climbed as much as 2.1 percent in New York after dropping 3.9 percent Monday. Inventories probably expanded by 3.2 million barrels last week, according to a Bloomberg survey before an Energy Information Administration report Wednesday. North American oil and natural gas drillers will need to cut an additional 30 percent from their capital budgets to balance spending even if crude rises to $40 a barrel, according to an analysis by IHS Inc.

Oil is still down about 18 percent this year on speculation a global glut will persist amid the outlook for increased exports from Iran after the removal of international sanctions and brimming U.S. crude supplies. The nation’s drillers idled the most rigs since April last week as inventories rose above 500 million barrels to the highest level since 1930.

West Texas Intermediate for March delivery rose as much as 61 cents to $30.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $30.16 at 8:45 a.m. Hong Kong time. The contract dropped $1.20 to $29.69 on Monday, the first time the contract has closed below $30 since Feb. 2. Total volume traded was about 65 percent below the 100-day average. Prices lost 30 percent last year.

Brent for April settlement slid $1.18, or 3.5 percent, to $32.88 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange on Monday. The European benchmark crude ended the session at a premium of $1.24 to WTI for April.

Source: Bloomberg

old Tops $1,200 for First Time Since June as Haven Demand Rises

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Gold surged above $1,200 an ounce for the first time since June, extending a rally that’s made the metal the best performing commodity this year, as a global share rout spurs haven demand.

Bullion for immediate delivery gained as much as 0.4 percent to $1,193.53, and traded at $1,191.02 at 8:16 a.m. in Singapore, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. On Monday, the metal jumped to $1,200.97, the highest since June 22, as producers’ shares rallied.

Gold has advanced 12 percent this year on rising concern that the global economy is losing steam, with global equity markets in retreat and investors cutting bets on higher U.S. interest rates. Shares in Asia fell on Tuesday following a drop in U.S. equities that pushed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a 22-month closing low.

The global slowdown has increased speculation that U.S. growth will cool enough to force Federal Reserve policy makers to wait longer before raising rates again. The prospect of delays has sent the dollar lower and gave metals a boost as alternative investments. Bullion holdings in exchange-traded products have climbed for 15 consecutive days, the longest run since September 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Since the start of the year, investors added $2.6 billion to U.S. exchange-traded funds linked to precious metals, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That follows a withdrawal of $2.7 billion in 2015, when bullion posted a third annual loss.

Source: Bloomberg

Asian Stocks dumped for safe havens as bank fears flare

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Asian share markets were scorched on Tuesday as stability concerns put a torch to European bank stocks and sent investors stampeding to only the safest of safe haven assets.

As fear overwhelmed greed, yields on longer-term U.S. Treasury debt hit one-year lows as bond prices rose, the yen surged to a 15-month peak and gold reached its most precious since June.

The jump in the yen piled further pressure on Japan's Nikkei .N225 which sank 3.4 percent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.8 percent, and would have been lower if not for holidays in many centers.

Source: reuters

Japanese Stocks Fall Amid Global Equity Selloff, Stronger Yen

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Japanese stocks fell amid a global equity selloff and after the yen surged to the highest level against the dollar in more than a year, undermining the profit outlook for the nation’s exporters.

The Topix index dropped 2 percent to 1,352.86 as of 9:01 a.m. in Tokyo, as all of its 33 industry groups declined, led by shippers and energy stocks. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 2 percent to 16,667.72. The yen traded at 115.55 per dollar after closing Monday below the key level of 116 for the first time since November 2014. Stocks fell in the U.S. and Europe amid concerns about slowing global growth.

Japan’s currency has strengthened against the dollar despite diverging interest rate policies taken by each nation’s central bank, with the Bank of Japan last month introducing negative interest rates while the Federal Reserve in December raised borrowing costs and signaled more increases this year. Slowing global growth has pared back trader expectations for at least one U.S. rate hike this year to 30 percent, down from 93 percent at the end of 2015.

E-mini futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.3 percent. The underlying equity gauge sank 1.4 percent on Monday as a second straight selloff pushed bank shares to the lowest since 2013 and left the Nasdaq Composite Index approaching a bear market. Equities pared declines in a late-session rebound sparked by gains in energy shares. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slumped 3.5 percent as Greek shares fell to lowest since 1990.

Source: Bloomberg

U.S. Stocks Decline With Nasdaq Composite Index at 15-Month Low

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U.S. stocks dropped as European markets tumbled and oil fell for a third day, as the rout that sent the Nasdaq Composite Index to its lowest level since October 2014 deepened.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 1.3 percent to 1,855.91 at 9:33 a.m. in New York, after falling 3.1 percent last week. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 1.8 percent. West Texas Intermediate crude futures sank 1.8 percent, after losing more than 4 percent and briefly falling below $30 a barrel.

The S&P 500 declined last week for the first time in three, with a jobs-day tumble on Friday turning into a full-blown selloff in stocks with the highest valuations. A rout in software and Internet companies sent the Nasdaq Internet Index to its biggest slump since 2011, with Facebook Inc. posting its steepest retreat in more than a year.

The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 5.4 percent last week, and the S&P 500 closed 12 percent below its all-time high set in May.

Source : Bloomberg