By FX Empire.com
Fear still dominates the market as the eyes are still locked on Brussels, the hope was wrapped with mere doubts across financial markets today, as investors grew more eager to snap a highlight or breaking news on the latest developments ahead of the EU much-awaited Crisis Summit taking place today in Brussels; disappointments after the Euro Region Finance minister’s meeting scheduled today was unexpectedly cancelled, propelling speculations EU leaders are struggling to guarantee a final rescue plan for European banks and the debt-laden Greece.
Market jitters eased on Wednesday, after yesterday’s statement of German Chancellor Angela Merkel that her country will not be a reference to the European Central bank continuing its bond-purchasing program was met this morning with German Bundestag lower house of parliament giving the Chancellor the green light to negotiate the terms of expanding the EFSF, which explicitly on the bases that no increase in German tax money will be put on the line.
An hour before the U.S session opening, figures from the U.S Department of Commerce showed September orders of durable goods topped median estimates, having mainly the orders for U.S durable goods excluding airplanes and automobiles rising in September by the most in six month, U.S stocks gained following the report.
U.S Stocks gained mostly by opening after the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly released the new home sales index for September 2011 at 14:00 EST, where the index increased by 5.7 percent to an annual rate of 313 thousand, compared to the prior revised loss of 0.3 percent to an annual rate of 296 thousand and above median estimates of 300 thousand.
The earnings season seems to be quite interesting actually, as U.S companies mostly reported better-than-forecasted earnings so far. Today, 52 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 are scheduled to report quarterly results. Earlier this morning, few large corporations reported third-quarter earnings that beat analyst’s median estimates including Sprint Nextel Corp, Ford Motor Corp, Boeing Co and Southern Co.
The U.S. dollar was higher against a basket of major currencies on Wednesday, where the U.S. dollar index was trading at 76.50, compared with the opening level at 76.15. The Euro fell against the Dollar, where the EUR/USD pair traded around $1.3832, compared with the opening level at $1.3900, the British Pound fell against the Dollar as well, where the GBP/USD pair traded around $1.5907, compared with the opening level at $1.6002, and the U.S. dollar dropped against the Japanese Yen after hitting a new record low, where the USD/JPY pair was trading at 75.01, compared with the opening level at 76.12.
Stocks in the United States were little changed after early trading gains, following the biggest drop in three weeks for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was higher by nearly 0.34% to trade around 11,746, while the S&P 500 index was down was nearly flat trade around 1,228. European stock indexes mostly lower before closing on Wednesday, where FTSE 100 was up by 0.18% to trade at nearly 5,534 and the DAX was lower by nearly 0.90% to trade around 5,990.
Gold prices climbed on Wednesday to trade now around $1,717.10 an ounce after opening at $1,701.13 an ounce and crude oil prices slipped to trade around $91.20 a barrel since the opening price of $92.56 a barrel.
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