By FX Empire.com
Another wave of pessimism spread through global financial markets, where the trigger this time was doubts that U.S. lawmakers will be able to reach a deal to cut the budget deficit, as the so called “supercommittee”, which is responsible for announcing at least $1.2 trillion in budget cuts is reported to have failed to reach an agreement so far, which added to persistent woes in markets over the outlook of the European debt crisis, as yields on European governmental bonds continued to rise on Monday.
Meanwhile, the better than expected existing home sales from the United States did little to ease concerns in markets, where existing home sales increased in October by 1.4% to 4.97 million units, compared with the prior estimate of 4.90 million units, and better than median estimates for a drop by 2.2% to 4.80 million units.
The U.S. dollar was sharply higher against a basket of major currencies on Monday, where the U.S. dollar index was trading at 78.40, compared with the opening level at 77.97. The Euro fell against the Dollar, where the EUR/USD pair traded at $1.3474, compared with the opening level at $1.3536, the British Pound fell sharply against the Dollar, where the GBP/USD pair traded around $1.5624, compared with the opening level at $1.5775, and the U.S. dollar rebounded to the upside against the Japanese Yen, where the USD/JPY pair was trading around 76.97, compared with the opening level at 76.85.
Stocks in the United States fell sharply by opening on Monday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by nearly 2.10% to trade around 11,550, while the S&P 500 index was down by nearly 2.05% to trade around 1190. European stock indexes also suffered heavy losses before closing on Monday, where FTSE 100 was down by nearly 2.05% to trade at 5252 and the DAX was down by nearly 2.60% to close around 5650.
Gold prices fell sharply on Monday to trade now around $1690 an ounce and crude oil prices fell sharply as well to trade around $95 a barrel.
Originally posted here
