Gold Climbs as Deepening Equity Losses Spur Safe-Haven Demand

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Gold climbed to the highest in more than a week and investors boosted holdings in bullion-backed funds as global market turmoil spurred demand for a haven.

The metal rose as much as 1.9 percent in New York as commodities dropped and a gauge of world equities teetered on the brink of a bear market. Citigroup Inc. raised its forecast for gold prices this year, while cutting the outlook for crude oil and base metals. The cost of living in the U.S. fell in December and housing starts unexpectedly slumped, government data Wednesday showed.

Gold futures for February delivery gained 1.6 percent to settle at $1,106.20 an ounce at 1:43 p.m. on the Comex in New York, after touching $1,109.90, the highest since Jan. 8. Prices are up 4.3 percent this year, the best performance of 22 raw materials on the Bloomberg Commodity Index.

Gold holdings in exchange-traded products rose for the seventh time in eight sessions on Tuesday, to 1,511.8 metric tons, the highest since Nov. 6, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Source: Bloomberg

Oil Tumbling Most in Four Months Deepens Gloom for Producers

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Crude sank the most in more than four months, dragging down shares of oil and gas producers to the lowest in almost seven years.

Futures fell as much as 8 percent to the lowest since May 2003. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the first global major oil company to report fourth-quarter earnings, said Wednesday it expects profit to drop at least 42 percent. Markets could “drown in oversupply,” sending prices even lower as oil demand growth slows and Iran boosts exports, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.

West Texas Intermediate for February delivery, which expires Wednesday, fell $2.20 to $26.26 a barrel at 1:37 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The more-active March future slid $1.76 to $27.81. Total volume traded was 38 percent higher than the 100-day average.

Brent for March settlement slipped $1.33, or 4.6 percent, to $27.43 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract traded at a 41-cent discount to WTI for the same month.

Source: Bloomberg

U.S. Stocks Sink With Markets Around the World as Rout Deepens

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U.S. stocks fell, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index reaching at 21-month low, following a renewed selloff across stocks worldwide as skepticism about the strength of the global economy intensified.

Equities staged a late-day rally paced by health-care and small-cap shares that briefly erased a drop of 3.7 percent in the Nasdaq Composite Index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 cut their worst losses by more than half. Energy companies sank further into five-year lows, on pace for their worst monthly slump since 2008 as oil plunged. Chevron Corp. slid 3.1 percent. International Business Machines Corp. fell 4.9 percent after its earnings forecast missed projections.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 1.2 percent to 1,859.43 at 4 p.m. in New York, closing at its lowest level since April 2014. The gauge trimmed a slide of more than 3.6 percent.

Global equities’ worst-ever start to a year deepened as oil continued its collapse and a slowdown in China weighs on sentiment. Japanese shares joined benchmark indexes in China and Europe in tumbling into a bear market today. West Texas Intermediate crude futures slumped 6.7 percent to near $26 a barrel.

Source : Bloomberg

U.S. Stocks Sink With Markets Around the World

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U.S. stocks tumbled, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping more than 500 points, following a renewed selloff across stocks worldwide as skepticism about the strength of the global economy intensified.

Commodity shares remained at the forefront of the selloff, with energy companies sinking further into five-year lows and on pace for their worst monthly slump since 2008. Chevron Corp. slid 7.2 percent. International Business Machines Corp. fell 5.5 percent after its earnings forecast missed projections. Banks fell for a third day, with Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. down more than 5.3 percent.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 3.4 percent to 1,817.60 at 12:34 p.m. in New York, the most in almost five months and on track for its lowest level since April 2014. The Dow lost 521.05 points, or 3.3 percent, to 15,494.97. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 3.4 percent and the Russell 2000 Index sank 3.5 percent.

Investors are keeping close watch on progress in the economy to gauge the potential pace of future interest-rate increases by the Federal Reserve. The central bank’s next policy meeting concludes a week from today.

Source: Bloomberg

Europe Stocks Fall to 15-Month Low as Oil, Results Stoke Concern

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European stocks slid to a 15-month low as falling oil prices and results from companies including Zurich Insurance Group AG and Royal Dutch Shell Plc exacerbated investor concern about global growth.

Zurich Insurance slid 11 percent after predicting a second straight quarterly loss for its biggest unit. Shell lost 7.3 percent after saying quarterly profit plunged as the slide in oil prices deepened. Seadrill Ltd. plummeted 29 percent as Bank of America Corp. cut its rating to the equivalent of sell. BHP Billiton Ltd. helped drag a gauge of commodity producers to the worst performance on the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, falling 7.4 percent after trimming its full-year iron-ore output forecast. Glencore Plc fell 9.9 percent.

The Stoxx 600 erased Tuesday’s rebound, tumbling 3.2 percent to 322.29 at the close of trading. Concern that a slowdown in China will spread and plunging oil prices have weighed on investor sentiment, dragging the European gauge down 12 percent this year and into a bear market last week. Oil extended its drop from the lowest close in more than 12 years today. The VStoxx Index measuring volatility expectations for euro-area shares jumped 14 percent.

The Stoxx 600 broke below its 200-week moving average at 324.15, hitting its lowest level since December 2014. Still, sentiment is so negative that technical indicators are not enough to trigger a rebound, according to Saxo Bank A/S trader Andrea Tueni.

Source : Bloomberg