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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (73920)	5/5/2011 4:59:05 PM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 219551

Commodities Sink Most Since 2008 as Stocks Fall, Dollar Gains May 5 (Bloomberg) -- Commodities plunged the most since 2008, led by oil and silver, and stocks posted the biggest three-day drop since March as selling of energy futures drove down equities. The dollar strengthened and Treasuries jumped. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI index of 24 commodities sank 7 percent at 3:44 p.m. in New York and has lost 10 percent this week. Oil tumbled 8.6 percent, the most in two years, to $99.80 a barrel. Silver dropped 8 percent, extending the biggest four- day slump since 1983 to 25 percent. The MSCI All-Country World Index of shares in 45 nations fell 1.3 percent. The dollar rose 2 percent versus the euro, making commodities quoted in the greenback more expensive for holders of other currencies. Selling swept commodities markets as investors sold positions following more than 23 percent gains in 2011 through April 29 by silver, oil, gasoline, coffee and cotton. The dollar, which slumped 13 percent versus the euro between Jan. 7 and May 2 as the S&P 500 Index rallied 7.2 percent, strengthened against 15 of 16 major counterparts after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet signaled he will wait until after June to raise interest rates. “It’s panic,” said Michael Shaoul, chairman of Marketfield Asset Management, which oversees $1 billion in New York. “You have those super crowded trades. Now you’re in liquidation mode. There’s nothing to do with weak U.S. economic data. It’s not a global financial crisis. It’s a classic liquidation move in a crowded trade.” The U.S. said claims for employment benefits jumped to 474,000 last week amid auto-plant shutdowns, exceeding the median economist estimate of 410,000 in a Bloomberg survey, while worker productivity declined. The data raised concern about the world’s biggest economy a day before the Labor Department may say nonfarm payrolls increased 185,000 in April after gaining 216,000 the previous month, according to the median forecast of 84 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. --With assistance from Matt Walcoff in Toronto and Stephen Kirkland and Maria Kolesnikova in London. Editors: Nick Baker, Chris Nagi To contact the reporters on this story: Rita Nazareth in New York at rnazareth@bloomberg.net; Nikolaj Gammeltoft in New York at ngammeltoft@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Baker at nbaker7@bloomberg.net.