Commodity Corner
Views on commodities and energy
Commodities Roundup: Iron & Steel stocks lead the decline
In a sign of the concern of a global slowdown, the DJ Iron & Steel Index has shed 15.6 percent in the past week. It is the worst-performing of the stock sector indexes tracked by DJ. (See the DJ sector indexes here). The coal stocks index is the second, followed by Industrial Metals & Mining. In fact, of the ten worst performing, only two are directly financial sector indexes and the rest are directly related to commodities, basic materials and transportation.
In the futures market, U.S. November crude settled down $10.52 to $96.37 a barrel, after touching a session low of $95.04 after lawmakers rejected the bailout package.
“This decision is a shock to the system,” said Sarah Emerson, director of Energy Security Analysis Inc. “The oil market is reacting strongly in part because of the implications of a weak economy on demand.”
