NEWS / Foreign Exchange

US Indices under some pressure after a string of gains

- After trading up 8 sessions in a row, many of the Dow Jones Industrial components are seeing some selling.  All but a handful of components are red with AA giving up a large portion of its early post earnings report gains. Headlining the weakness.  C ??“1.3% CAT ??“1.3% DD ??“1.2% IBM ??“1.3% VZ ??“1.4%  Homebuilding names are lower after the NAR lowered 2007 forecasts for existing and new home sales.  Equity futures broke to session lows after weekly EIA data disclosed a much larger than expected draw down in gasoline inventories, and the equity weakness also coincided with a headline that Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the recent bombing attempt in Algeria.  Crude briefly traded above $62.50 but has since settled back around $62.20.  Gasoline futures made new 7-month highs helping refiners pop on the initial data.  Ahead of this afternoon??™s release of FOMC minutes, US Treasury futures are marginally higher with the 10-year yield holding around 4.71%.  The Japanese Yen came under a bit of pressure after the IMF??™s chief economist said he doesn??™t see further action needed regarding the carry trade.  The USD/JPY traded as high as 119.50 while the EUR/JPY made new all time highs at 160.40.  May Copper futures approached 1-year highs in electronic trade but have since settled around $3.57, up another 1.3%.  June Gold traded as high as $686.20 but has reversed into negative territory.