Currencies

• EUR/USD The dollar fell against the euro on speculation the Federal Reserve today will restate its pledge to keep record monetary stimulus after global equities slid.
  • The dollar fell to $1.4245 per euro from $1.4179.


• USD/JPY The yen rose versus the majority of its counterparts as concern about a U.S. economic slowdown and the euro-region's debt crisis spurred demand for the currency as a refuge.
  • The yen rose to 77.34 per dollar as of 6:29 a.m. in London from 77.77 in New York yesterday.

• GBP/USD Sterling retreated against the dollar but started a steady increase earlier today.
  • Sterling was trading $1.63262 around 7:30 a.m. London time after reaching $1.62670.

Commodities

• Gold futures exceeded $1,770 an ounce for the first time as the global rout in equities and commodities deepened on concern the economic slowdown will worsen after Standard & Poor's cut the U.S. credit rating.
  • Immediate-delivery gold rose as much as 3.1 percent to an all-time high of $1,772.38.
  • Gold for December delivery in New York advanced as much as 3.6 percent to a record $1,774.80 an ounce and traded at $1,759.40 at 2:56 p.m. in Melbourne.

• Oil futures fell to their lowest level in almost nine months after Standard & Poor's downgrade of U.S. debt highlighted the weak economic health of the world's biggest oil consumer.
  • Furthermore, rising stockpiles stoked concern an economic slowdown will worsen.
  • Crude for September delivery fell as much as $5.60, or 6.9 percent, to $75.71 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $77.90 at 2:19 p.m. Sydney time.

Equities

• U.S. stocks stock The downgrade of the U.S.'s credit rating sparked a global selloff on Monday, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its sharpest one-day decline since the financial crisis in 2008.
  • S&P 500 dropped by 6.66% at 1,119.46.
  • The S&P 500 dropped 3.2 percent to 1,219.48 at 2:37 p.m. in New York.
  • The Dow ended the day down 634.76 points, or 5.5%, at 10809.85.


• European stocks markets tumbled Monday as the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating further weakened confidence in the global economy, and as investors were underwhelmed by the European Central Bank's move to buy Italian and Spanish bonds.
  • Car makers BMW and Daimler sank 8.8% and 7.1%, respectively, while steelmaker ThyssenKrupp plunged 9.6%.
  • The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index fell 3.4% to 5068.95
  • Germany's DAX Index, tumbled 5% to 5923.27and France's CAC 40 Index slid 4.7% to 3125.19

• Asian stocks In Asia Tuesday morning, investors continued the global selloff with huge stock market losses.
  • The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slumped as much as 5.5 percent today. It was down 3.3 percent at 118.79 as of 1:20 p.m. in Tokyo.
  • Japan's Nikkei Stock Average traded more than 4% lower.
  • Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 7%.

Sources: Bloomberg, FT