U.S. Stocks Dip In Volatile Session

Stocks in the U.S. dipped Tuesday afternoon on weak trade volumes. The session started in positive territory, with technology and industrial shares gaining after one of the big car manufactures, Ford, presented good sales numbers pointing towards the economic turnaround, witnessed as well by data earlier in the week. In spite of strong car sales in June, markets turned down. The Dow ended down well below the 15 00 mark. Continued unrest in Egypt with a military ultimatum to president Mursi led oil prices higher, boosting the energy sector.

The low volumes in the equity market were partly due to the forthcoming U.S. Independence day vacation on Thursday.The markets were also closed for trading the second half of Wednesday. Jobless claims are going to be presented on Friday. The could be a new important indicator when the Federal Reserve (FED) is going to start tapering and set a final date for terminating its economic stimulus and ending its bond buying program. Better jobless claims will be seen as an improvement in the U.S. economy, which might lead to an early termination of economic stimulus.

The USD rose to its highest level against the Japanese Yen since the recent volatility seen in the stock and currency markets. The volatility had kicked off with the FED’s indication of setting a date for terminating monetary easing two weeks ago. The USD/JPY jumped again over the 100 Yen a Dollar mark, reaching 100,72. The Dollar index, DXY, where the Dollar is weighed against a basket of currencies, reached the highest level seen in four weeks. The weaker Japanese Yen caused the Nikkei to jump 1.7 %.

The EUR/USD fell 0.7 % at 1.2962, nearly 100 points down from Monday’s high. Copper and other commodity prices were up. Brent crude rose for the third day in a row reaching above USD 104 a barrel. NYMEX, New York crude, traded close to 100 a barrel. Gold prices, which have jumped over the last two days, fell back to 1242, 10 Dollar down from Monday’s high. The other important precious metal, Silver, fell back as well. Portuguese bonds sank to their lowest level in weeks, when three ministers left the government in protest against the austerity measures.