For the Dow and the S&P 500, Wednesday capped their biggest six-day point loss ever. It was a session of wild swings, with no clear direction determined until the final minutes. Wall Street's favorite measure of investor fear, the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index <.VIX>, hit a record intraday high and closed at yet another record.
During the session, the Dow swung 433.29 points from its session low at 9,194.78 to its intraday peak at 9,628.07 in extremely volatile trading. The Nasdaq's arc from its session low at 1,706.86 to the day's high covered 100.03 points, while the S&P 500 ran 50.09 points from its session low at 970.97 to intraday high above 1,000 in a day of whiplash moves.
NYMEX-NEW YORK, Oct 8 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures ended with pared losses on Wednesday, helped by a rebound on Wall Street where investors scoured the market for bargains.
The day's losses were also curbed by news that OPEC may need to cut oil output to bolster prices and that OPEC oil ministers were talking of an emergency meeting in November to discuss the impact of the financial crisis.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, November crude
CBOT-SOYBEANS - November
Rallied after spot month fell to a near 13-month low; firm cash markets noted as falling prices and Midwest rains stall harvest selling. Talk of short-covering as traders exit long Dalian/short CBOT soy spreads adds support.
Prospects for USDA early Friday to release a bullish U.S. soy production and stocks number and Argentine farmer strike lending support to soy.
Brazil 2008/09 soybean crop seen at record 60.10 million to 61.27 million tonnes, versus 60.02 million tonnes in 2007/08- government.
SOYOIL - October
FCPO-KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures dived 5.1 percent to notch fresh 22-month lows on Wednesday as investors dumped commodity assets across the board in the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Palm oil tumbled along with vegetable oils in Asia after mineral oil, a main input cost that also faces competition from grains and oilseed in energy use, dropped as much $4 to about $86 per barrel.
The benchmark December contract
REGIONAL EQUITY-SINGAPORE, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stock markets slid to new multi-year lows on Wednesday as investors sold on fears the world could be facing its worst economic and financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Indonesian shares <.JKSE> fell by 10.4 percent in early trade to hit its lowest level in two years before the stock exchange halted trading for an indefinite period. Singapore <.FTSTI> dived 6.6 percent to its lowest in three and a half years to close at 2,033 points.
The Philippine index <.PSI> slid 4.8 percent, Vietnam <.VNI> dropped 4.8 percent and Malaysia <.KLSE> outperformed the region closing down 2.7 percent.
