Economic reports showed that new orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods fell by their biggest margin in seven months, while August sales of new home fell short of Wall Street's expectations, raising questions about the strength of the recovery.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 42.25 points, or 0.44 percent, to 9,665.19. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> dropped 6.40 points, or 0.61 percent, to 1,044.38. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> declined 16.69 points, or 0.79 percent, to 2,090.92.
NYMEX-NEW YORK, Sept 25 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures ended with modest gains in seesaw trading on Friday, supported by fresh tensions over Iran's nuclear program while demand worries amid high stockpiles and a set of mixed economic data weighed on sentiment.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, November crude
CBOT-SOYBEANS - November
CBOT-SOYOIL - October
FCPO-MUMBAI, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Benchmark crude palm oil (CPO) futures in Malaysia may fall 13 percent to 1,900 ringgit per tonne but prices will rise next year as the El Nino weather event hits output, a top industry analyst told a conference on Sunday.
Prices were likely to rise to 2,400 ringgit per tonne next year, said Dorab Mistry, head of vegetable oil purchasing at India's Godrej International and a respected analyst.
On Friday, benchmark December contract
Mistry said palm oil inventories in Malaysia would rise to more than 2 million tonnes by the end of November. "The situation reminds me of last year when Malaysian stocks peaked at 2.265 million tonnes at the end of November," he said.
Mistry maintained his forecasts for Indonesia's 2009 palm oil output at 21.5 million tonnes from about 20 million tonnes last year and Malaysian production at 17.5 million tonnes in 2009, compared with 17.75 million tonnes last year.
REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets fell on Friday on fears that authorities around the world might end stimulus efforts too soon, and big caps such as Bumi Resources
World central banks have said they would scale back infusions of dollars into their banking systems, adding to unease triggered when the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would slow purchases of mortgage debt, a pillar of its efforts to support mortgage lending.
Singapore's Straits Times Index <.FTSTI> slid 0.2 percent, after a 0.7 percent decline on Thursday, while Thailand <.SETI> inched down 0.96 percent and Malaysia <.KLSE> 0.06 percent. The Philippines <.PSI> lost 0.6 percent but Vietnam <.VNI> added 1.4 percent.
In Singapore, top losers were casino operator Genting Singapore
In Kuala Lumpur, financials led the losers, with CIMB