United States

The first half came to an end last night with oil and the Dow barely changed.

Oil hit US$142.99 on Friday before settling at US$140.21. The Dow lost 106.

GaveKal’s risk appetite indicator has turned down once more, indicating liquidity is being withdrawn by investors. This should encourage downward pressure on inflation by itself.

Broker downgrades hit Wall Street last night before OPEC called oil to US$170 on a weak US dollar. Oil hit US$140. The Dow fell 358.

The Fed left the cash rate unchanged, as expected, while suggesting a more hawkish bias. An unchanged Dow belied a 0.6% rise in the broad market and a 1.4% gain in the Nasdaq.

It was another choppy night on Wall Street ahead of tonight’s Fed rate decision. The Dow lost 34 points.

The Dow closed unchanged last night, but it wasn’t all about a quiet market. A strong energy sector was offset by ever more weakness in financials. Gold took a dive.

The Dow fell over 200 points on Friday as quadruple witching evoked significant volume on a weak bias. Oil bounced back over US$2 after Israel pulled it out and showed to Iran.

The price of petrol will be 17% higher in China tomorrow, prompting a US$5 fall in the oil price last night. But the Dow managed only a 34 point rally.

It was a case of oil up, Dow down on the current broken record that is Wall Street. A 130 point fall puts the March lows in sight.