Monday, 31 Aug 2009

Crude Prices Fall Sharply

The price of Crude Oil significantly dropped during today's trading. The fall in the price was triggered by a staunch sell off in Chinese equity markets earlier in the day. The trend carried over from the Asian trading session and weighed on U.S. markets, dragging down equities and the Dollar. In the afternoon trading hours, Crude Oil was falling below $69.60 for a price drop close to 4%.

Trading of the Dollar was mixed after the Chicago PMI was released with better than expected results, indicating a higher level of business activity in US. Against the EUR the Dollar was trading lower at 1.4320 while against the Yen the Dollar was higher at 92.95.

Tomorrow traders should look to the ISM Manufacturing PMI and the monthly pending home sales numbers for direction in the Dollar's fluctuations. The previous release of July's home sales numbers shocked the market by posting a significant jump in housing activity. Traders will be watching to see if the summer housing numbers continue to surprise them.