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- Overall markets have had little reaction to the announcement that Iran will be releasing the UK sailors. Gold futures are still higher by more than 1% at $679.30 as they rallied hard into the Iranian President??™s speech. Crude has moved a little lower to trade towards the $64 mark despite a mixed bag of inventory data. A much larger than expected draw down in gasoline inventories heading into the driving season has sent shares of refiners higher. VLO +1.4% SUN +1.2% TSO +2% Soft March ISM non-manufacturing data and weaker than expected Feb factory orders have helped keep a lid on stocks and buoyed Treasury prices. Financial stocks are under some pressure along with the Transportation average which is off 0.4% today. Share of CC and BBY are moving lower after earnings reports. MNST is off 13.5% after cutting guidance. Semis are holding up with the SMH up 0.7% after the cap-equipment sector got and upgrade in the pre-market. The Long Bond future is up 10 ticks near today??™s highs, though gains have been held back some by a strong prices paid component of today??™s ISM data. The Dollar is lower across the board with the US Dollar Index down more than 0.25%. Eastern European central banks are said to be buying Euros on more hawkish ECB rhetoric. AUD/USD continues to rise on technical momentum and strong commodities prices. Traders are looking for resistance at the Dec 1996 high of 0.8210.
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