Morning Fundamentals: US Equity Prices Fall From Record Highs

 | Dec 11, 2013 07:04AM ET

General Motors Company, (GM) has taken a landmark decision to appoint the first female CEO to head a global automaker. Mary Barra, who is 51, is an engineer who began as an intern with GM more than 30 years ago, where she started on the factory floor and was previously in charge of product devel-opment and quality before taking over the CEO's role from Dan Akerson. Barra has full control at the wheel of GM after the U.S. government recently sold its stake in GM. She will face rising competition from both domestic and Japanese manufacturers. Barra joins a growing list of high profile female CEOs at international corporations such as IBM, PepsiCo, Xerox and Hewlett-Packard.

U.S. equity prices fell from record highs as renewed concerns over the U.S. budget negotia-tions and the possibility of a December taper saw investors take bets off the table. Investors re-main nervous over the record of the Congress in budget talks that saw a partial shutdown of the U.S. government this year. Companies such as Microsoft and Coca Cola led the declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The S&P 500 has closed 0.32% lower at 1,802.66. Earlier in Eu-rope, bourses were also lower with the DAX losing 0.88% while the FTSE fell 0.55%.

Commodity prices were buoyed by a falling U.S. Dollar with the major indexes gaining more than 0.5%. WTI continues to recover, rising more than 1% to $98.45. Gold prices gained by the most in almost two months as the metal rose more than 2.3% to $1,263 while silver surged 3.4% to $20.40. Copper is higher by 0.3%. Agricultural commodities were mixed with grains falling while softs gained.