Financial Market Team update (English, 12 Aug 2010)

13:37 ET

Stocks
Yesterday, the S&P 500 and the DJIA reached their lowest level since July 23. Today, both have been trading steadily below yesterday's close. At the end of the day, the FTSE100 managed to pare earlier losses. Major American, European and Asian markets fell today, continuing yesterday's trend.

Currencies
After reaching a 15-year high, the yen is being closely monitored by Japan's central bank although no specific action has been mentioned.

Commodities
Oil continues to fall for the fifth straight day. Gasoline futures reached a five-week low. Gold continues to rise and has reached its highest for a month. Floods in Pakistan are making sugar prices climb since 200,000 acres of cane were destroyed.

Patrick Signoret and Georgina Lara

Financial Market Team update

Georgina Lara y Patrick Signoret

13:07 ET

DJIA: +1.75% to 10649.1
S&P 500: +1.93% to 1122.88
Mexico IPC: +1.14% to 32676.39
Brazil Bovespa: +1.59% to 68587.32

FTSE 100: +2.65% to 5397.11 c
DAX: +2.34% to 6292.13 c

Nikkei 225: +0.35% to 9570.31 c
Hang Seng: +1.82% to 21412.79 c

USD-EUR: 0.759
EUR-USD: +0.9539% to 1.3176
USD-JPY: +0.0174% to 86.485
USD-MXN: -0.5749% to 12.573

Corn 1m: 0% to 406.75
WTI future 1m: +3.14% to 81.43
Gold spot 1m: +0.08% to 1184.8

Stocks
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U.S. stocks are climbing after last week's fall after today’s release of positive construction spending and manufacturing reports. Both surpassed market expectations. Better-than-estimated earnings at companies may also have increased confidence in the economic recovery.

European stocks advanced in general after HSBC and BNP Paribas rallied. Production indices in the Euro Area showed mainly increases. Germany's situation as the biggest economy in Europe and the one leading the pace to economic recovery in the zone may have boosted investors’ optimism. UK stocks reached the highest level in two and a half months.

Asian stocks advanced following PMI reports that made investors confident that the region is growing.

(FT, Bloomberg)

Commodities
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U.S. crude oil continues last week’s trend and has risen more than 3%. The rise in oil prices may be due to the controlled supply by OPEC countries and the growing demand by some emerging markets like China.

Gold also continues to rise after several days of falling.

Soybean and corn prices rose again reaching the highest level since January after the drought in Russia, and other parts of Europe, harmed crops. The demand is now being satisfied by U.S. production.