Australian stocks are set for a reasonably flat open this morning after commodities were strong but US stocks were small down on Tuesday, the Dow finished down 12.90 points at 12569.8. The S&P was off 1.79 points to close at 1337.88.
The EURUSD traded 100 points lower overnight to settle at 1.4420 after trading as low as 1.4397, ratings agency Moody’s downgraded Portugal to “junk” status which has really put a dampening effect on the optimism that investors were feeling after last week’s positive news regarding the Greek debt crisis. Moody’s also said that banks that roll over Greek debt may face impairment charges and S&P said a French plan may put Greece in “selective default.”
The Swiss franc rose against all major currencies overnight as another wave of doubt hit investors that the proposed plan to save Greece from a debt default might not be as clear cut as initially thought. The EURCHF dropped from a high of 1.2240 to a low of 1.2100.
Gold (see the above chart) rose 2% overnight to settle at 1,512 this morning, the biggest climb in over five weeks as Moody’s Investors Service announced that the credit outlook for China’s banks is deteriorating which led to investors scrambling for the precious metal.
WTI Oil climbed to its highest price in over three weeks to settle at 96.91 this morning as data showed orders placed with US factories increased by 0.8% in May which indicates that the manufacturing industry is ramping up.
| INDICES | |
| Last Traded | |
| SPI 200 |
4598 |
| S&P500 Index |
1337.32 |
| Dow Jones Indus. Avg |
12522 |
| FTSE 100 Index |
5988 |
| COMMODITIES | |
|
Last Traded |
|
| Gold |
1513.2 |
| Oil (Nymex) |
97.03 |
| CURRENCIES | |
|
Last Traded |
|
| AUDUSD |
1.0690 |
| EURUSD |
1.4426 |
| GBPUSD |
1.6059 |
| USDJPY |
81.12 |


