Breaking News, What's causing the move today.

[flower]

FED member Bullard, presumably trying to convince reporters that the FED has NOT changed it's current QE policy in spite of how the Press has reported the last FOMC meeting's minutes--however has the damage already been done? Note phrase 3 where Bullard talks of increasing purchases!
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Feb 21 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve should stand by its policy of tying asset purchases to U.S. economic developments, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis said on Thursday, adding the central bank has room to maneuver on the size of purchases."We've stated that this would be a policy that depends on the performance of the U.S. economy.

We should stick to that and we should tailor the program in response to macro economic developments," James Bullard told reporters on Thursday.

"We can continue for a while and then assess things as we go forward," he added. "But I would like to get the (Fed policy-setting) committee to react to incoming data and adjust the program to incoming data," whether it is decreasing or increasing purchases.

[flower]

This is one of the factors rattling markets overnight and today:
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Feb 21, 2013 2:50am IST

* Rumor of commodity fund liquidation sparks broad selloff * Gold hits more than a 7-month low after bearish Fedminutes * Silver down most in 2 months, copper hits 1-month bottom * Gasoline, US crude oil each down 2 percent By Eric Onstad and Barani Krishnan

LONDON/NEW YORK, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Commodities tumbled onWednesday amid speculation a hedge fund had been forced toliquidate positions across metals and oil markets, and gold fellto more than a seven-month low on worries that the U.S. economicstimulus may soon dry up. Already under pressure from ongoing concerns about globalsupply and demand, commodity markets tumbled in high volumetrade just before 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT), with oil and gasolineprices dropping about 2 percent each. Gold, under pressure all week from traders seeking riskierinvestments as the outlook for the global economy improved, fellto June lows. Losses deepened after the U.S. Federal Reservereleased the minutes of its January meeting, saying it may haveto slow or stop its asset buying program before it sees thepickup in hiring that the program was to deliver. Oil and other commodities were pressured by talk of a hedgefund liquidating after it had been caught on the wrong side ofthe market. Several firms were cited by traders as potentiallybehind the moves, but none could be confirmed by Reuters. "I think what happened today is more speculative sellingthan anything else," said the manager of an oil-focused hedgefund in Europe, who asked not to be identified. "The markets that fell the most dropped about 2 percenteach. That's hardly enough to blow up a fund." The stock market also slipped, with U.S. energy stocksparticularly falling on talk that that a troubled hedge fund wasselling assets. "I heard the chatter about a hedge fund liquidating thingstoday, but how big? I don't know. Certainly it sparks concern,"said Michael James, senior trader at Wedbush Morgan in LosAngeles. Gold wasn't the only commodity that took a pounding. Silver had its sharpest decline in two months, whilebenchmark industrial metal copper fell to a one-month low. In oil, U.S. crude shed more than $2 a barrel. The Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index, acommodities bellwether, fell 0.6 percent for its sharpest dropin nearly 2 weeks. Twelve of the 19 markets it tracked settledlower.

A Reuters chart of the CRB's moves showed the commodities selloff accelerating between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. EST (1500 GMTand 1600 GMT) as news of the fund in trouble gathered pace. SOME MARKETS DOWN IN HEAVY VOLUME Some markets saw heavy trading on their way down. Volume insilver was more than double the 30-day average. March,the most-active silver contract on New York's COMEX, closed down2.7 percent for its sharpest decline since Dec. 20. Volume in gold was nearly 30 percent above the 30-day normas the spot price fell broke through support at $1,600 anounce. Gold tumbled nearly 3 percent on Wednesday to its lowestprice since July after minutes of last month's Federal Reservemeeting showed the central bank may have to slow or stop itslong-running stimulus program. "People are taking a step back and asking themselves 'Is theFed going to stop quantitative easing earlier?'" said Axel Merk,chief investment officer of Merk Funds, which manages $630million in mutual fund assets. Copper's benchmark three-month contract in London slipped to its lowest level in more than a month, dragged downby persistent demand concerns as post-holiday buying from topconsumer China remained subdued. In oil, London's Brent crude closed below $116 abarrel, down $1.92, on prospects of more Saudi supply, whichoffset confidence that there will be more demand from animproving global economy. U.S. crude finished down $2.20 at below $95 a barrel.

[mrbear]

In Reply To: jwlkr's post @ Feb 12 2013, 09:00 PM

The market will see it as nothing more than posturing from a poor misguided fool unless they choose to throw a warhead at someone else,cheers mrbear

[jwlkr]

In Reply To: Duster's post @ Feb 12 2013, 04:39 PM

The markets will remain rational and see through this ruse as nothing more than an outcry for international aid.

Either that or they'll open lower.

So...anyone wanna subscribe to my newsletter?

[Duster]

North Korea Confirms It Conducted 3rd Nuclear Test

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/world/as...-test.html?_r=0

[Duster]

In Reply To: anroo's post @ Dec 4 2012, 09:04 PM

Don't know but 5.5% fixed for 5yrs sounds tempting on my investment properties

ING has passed on the full 25 basis pts & BOQ 20 basis points, so far.

[anroo]

In Reply To: Duster's post @ Dec 4 2012, 01:51 PM

How much will they pass on....???

[Duster]

The Reserve Bank of Australia has cut interest rates by 25 basis points.

[alonso]

In Reply To: henrietta's post @ Jun 10 2012, 09:34 PM

I've been observing, mainly through NPR, the consequences for the Spanish people of the various instalments of austerity.
It ain't pretty no matter who is responsible.

[Duster]

The Reserve Bank has cut interest rates by 0.25 %