Currencies

• EUR/USD The euro dropped versus the greenback on concerns that Europe's economic growth will slow and its debt crisis will worsen.
  • The single currency dropped to $1.4064 as of 7:52 a.m. in Tokyo from $1.4098 yesterday.
  
  

• USD/JPY The dollar fell against the Yen in the early trading hours.
  • It was trading at 76.760 around 7:30 a.m. London time, down from 76.955.
  
  

• GBP/USD The pound fell against the dollar after a services index declined, boosting the case for more economic stimulus measures.
  • An index of consumer sentiment toward hiring prospects slid 13 points to minus 66 for August.
  • The British currency was trading at $1.60750 around 7a.m. London time.
  
  

Commodities

• Gold rose yesterday and continues to hover around $1,900 an ounce as deepening concerns over global growth prompt investors to move from riskier assets to safer havens.
  • Gold for immediate delivery gained as much as 1 percent to an all-time high of $1,920.25 an ounce.
  • December-delivery futures on the Comex in New York climbed to a record $1,923.10 an ounce.

• Oil tumbled as investors speculated that signs of a weakening U.S. economy and increasing crude stockpiles indicate fuel demand will falter in the world's biggest consumer of the commodity.
  • Crude supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for West Texas Intermediate oil, rose 2.4 percent on Sept. 1 from Aug. 31.
  • Crude for October delivery fell as much as $3.25 to $83.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $83.75 at 10:30 a.m. Sydney time.

Equities

• US Stocks were closed yesterday for the Labor Day


• European stocks plunged on Monday, as investors piled into safe-haven assets amid rising fears over Europe's sovereign debt crisis and economic growth on both sides of the Atlantic.
  • The FTSE 100 index dropped 3.6% to 5102.58.
  • France's CAC 40 Index finished 4.7% lower at 2999.54 while Germany's DAX Index sank 5.3% to 5246.18.

• Asian stocks fell on concern that Europe may be unable to halt the spread of its sovereign-debt crisis.
  • Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (8306), Japan's biggest lender by market value, declined 3 percent.
  • The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 1.4 percent to 119.14 as of 1:41 p.m. in Tokyo.
  • Japan's Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average decreased 1.7 percent.
  • Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.9 percent while China's Shanghai Composite index lost 0.1 percent.

Sources: Bloomberg, FT