DJI - NEW YORK, April 17 (Reuters) - U.S.
stocks fell in a broad market selloff Wednesday, led by a sharp drop in Apple
shares on worries about slowing demand for its products and
weaker-than-expected results from Bank of America that battered the financial
sector.
Wednesday's losses were the week's
second big sell-off, adding to views the market may be starting the pullback
analysts have been speculating about for months. The market has had strong
gains since the start of year, yet on Monday, the S&P 500 posted its worst
day since Nov. 7 following a sharp drop in gold prices.
"After Monday’s gold selloff
spooked U.S. equities, it seems as though the dip buyers are a bit less
aggressive, allowing the market to fall a bit more," said Gordon Charlop,
a managing director at Rosenblatt Securities in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 138.19 points, or 0.94 percent, at 14,618.59. The Standard &
Poor's 500 Index was down 22.56 points, or 1.43 percent, at
1,552.01. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 59.96 points, or 1.84 percent, at 3,204.67.
Oils - NEW YORK, April 17 (Reuters) - Oil
prices tumbled for a sixth straight session on Wednesday, with Brent crude
falling below $98 per barrel for the first time since July as rising U.S. fuel
supplies added to overall concern about global oil demand.
A report from the U.S. government's
Energy Information Administration showed an unexpected fall in U.S. crude
inventories. But EIA reported increases in distillate inventories and gasoline
supplies on the U.S. East Coast, which includes the New York harbor.
"The report is mildly bullish,
but it’s not going to matter. It’s going to be overshadowed by everything else
that’s going on right now," said Mark Waggoner, president at Excel Futures
in Oregon.
"The U.S. has lots of crude
oil. The lack of demand out of China is also going to weigh quite
heavily."
Brent crude, U.S. crude and U.S.
gasoline were down around 2 percent, with U.S. heating oil approaching a 2.5
percent fall. U.S. crude and Brent crude were each off more than $2 per barrel
at the lows of the day.
Stephen Schork, the editor of The
Schork Report, said a key technical support for Brent was broken at $97.91.
"Once we hit that level, it probably triggered a bunch of selling,"
said Schork.
CBOT Soybean - Soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade closed higher on Wednesday with nearby contracts leading gains on firm
cash markets and tight U.S. supplies, traders said.
·
Soymeal
posted the biggest percentage gains in the soy complex,
with some traders citing rumors of U.S. export business.
·
The May
soybean and soymeal contracts each reached
their highest levels since March 28. The May soybean contract
broke through its 100-day moving average near $14.25 but
settled below that level.
·
Soy gains
pared late as global growth concerns and disappointing
earnings reports took a heavy toll on world equity markets
and commodities.
·
Trade
expects USDA's weekly export sales report on Thursday
to show U.S. soybean sales at 100,000 to 500,000 tonnes for 2012/13
and 50,000 to 500,000 tonnes for 2013/14.
·
The World
Health Organization said a number of people who have
tested positive for a new strain of bird flu in China appear to
have had no contact with poultry, adding to the mystery
about a virus that has killed 17 people to date.
·
Brazil's
vegetable oils association Abiove trimmed its forecast
for a record soybean crop to 82.1 million tonnes, below its 82.3 million tonne forecast in March.
BMD CPO - SINGAPORE, April 17 (Reuters) -
Malaysian palm oil futures fell to a 4-month low on Wednesday, as investors
refrained from taking risky positions after this week's rout in commodities and
ahead of export data.
Risky assets such as gold and crude
oil rebounded slightly from massive sell-offs this week, but the price outlook
remained volatile as concerns lingered over slowing global growth.
Palm oil traders are now waiting for
further export numbers as stocks of the edible oil could ease further on higher
shipments and weak production. Inventory levels fell to 2.17 million tonnes in
March, the lowest in seven months.
"Uncertainty still weighs on
the market, it looks like it will be this way at least for the week," said
a trader with a domestic commodities brokerage in Malaysia.
The benchmark July contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost 1.1 percent to close at 2,276
ringgit ($760) per tonne. Prices fell as low as 2,269 ringgit, a level last
seen on Dec. 14.
Total traded volumes stood at 38,934
lots of 25 tonnes each, slightly higher than the average 35,000 lots seen so
far this year.
Market participant will be hoping
for some improvement in Malaysian palm oil exports for the first 20 days of the
month. Shipments for the first half of April dropped 4 percent from a month
ago, according to cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services.
In other markets, Brent crude slid
towards $99 per barrel on Wednesday, weighed down by the prospect of sluggish
fuel demand in top consumers the United States and China and rising stockpiles
of U.S. crude.
In other vegetable oil markets, U.S.
soyoil for May delivery fell 0.2 percent in late Asian trade. The
most-active September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodities Exchange gained 0.6 percent.
Regional Equities - BANGKOK, April 17 (Reuters) - Most
Southeast Asian stocks gained on Wednesday with Malaysia and Indonesia hitting
a new high on strong earnings, but Thai stocks underperformed due to selling in
energy shares.
Kuala Lumpur's Composite Index rose 0.6 percent to close at a record high of 1,710.97. Jakarta's Composite
Index extended its gain for a second session,
climbing 1.1 percent to 4,998.65, above a record 4,981.46 set on April 3.
Shares in power utility Tenaga Nasional
Bhd, the most actively traded on Malaysian
bourse, jumped 3.9 percent ahead of its results due on Thursday.
Indonesia's telecom provider PT
Telekomunikasi Indonesia rose as much as 6.4 percent after its
mobile unit posted strong quarterly results.
In Singapore, shares of Singapore
Exchange Ltd outperformed the broader market ,
climbing 1.2 percent after it posted its largest quarterly profit since the
2008 financial crisis.
Thai SET index fell 0.4 percent to 1,521.53. Energy shares dropped 1.4 percent as falling global oil prices concerned investors of
possible weak earnings for April-June quarter, a strategist at Tisco Securities
said.