Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Commodities sell off amid 'perfect storm'

A perfect storm made up of bad economic data, a sell-off in Shanghai and hearings on curbing speculation in energy trading sent most commodities sharply lower and also pressured stocks on Wall Street Wednesday.

The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index /quotes/comstock/11j!i1:cr\y (CRB 243.55, -6.66, -2.66%) , a benchmark that gauges the prices of major commodities, fell 2.7% to 243.55 points.

Overnight, stocks in Shanghai tumbled 5% on some disappointing Chinese corporate profits and fears of possible central-bank moves to tighten lending. See full story.

"The big sell-off there put us in a bearish mood," said Phil Flynn, senior energy-market analyst at Alaron Trading. "We've been living on China time in the oil market and were still celebrating their economic rebound." (more)

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