A somewhat disappointing week as investor sentiment, in many areas, flipped from positive to negative. Losses from 2% to 4% were observed thoughout all of the world’s regions. Commodities confirmed downtrends losing 4.6% on the week. Crude oil and Gold lost 6% . Ten year Bond rates confirmed another downtrend, (rising Bond prices). And, the USD resumed its uptrend gaining 2.1%. Risk off was definitely in vogue. For the week the SPX/DOW were -2.7%, and the NDX/NAZ were -3.5%. On the economic front indicators continued to improve as positive reports outnumbered negatives at a 2:1 ratio for the third week in a row. On the downtick: retail sales and industrial production turned lower, while export/import prices remained negative. On the uptick: business inventories, the NY and Philly FED, the CPI/PPI, the budget deficit, weekly jobless claims, excess reserves, and the WLEI all displayed improvement. Next week we’ll receive the final estimate for Q3 GDP, projected around 2.0%, and several reports on Housing. Best to your week!

Originally from The Market Oracle