The huge increase in new jobs reported this morning, coupled with the drop in the unemployment rate to 8.3% has pushed US equities by more than 1% this morning. The news feeds renewed hopes for a stronger US economy going forward, and that means that US dollars are once again a good place to park some cash, that energy demand will rise as the economy uses more energy to produce more, and gold will lose some of its lustre.
All those things are happening, just as expected this morning. The US dollar is about 0.28% higher vs. the euro, about 0.15% higher vs. the British pound, and about 0.43% higher vs. the Japanese yen. The dollar index is up 0.201% at 79.137.
Crude oil is higher this morning, with WTI crude up 0.33% at $96.68/barrel and Brent crude up 0.82% at $112.99/barrel. The $16/barrel differential is more important to US consumers than the actual per barrel price of WTI. As that differential grows, pump prices tend to follow Brent increases.
Gold is down about -1.1% at $1,740.20/ounce. The dollar just shines a little brighter today.
Among other commodities, corn and Chicago wheat are both fractionally lower, while virtually all other prices are higher. Commodity prices usually move inversely to the dollar because most commodities are priced in dollars and if the dollar is worth more, then it takes fewer of them to buy a given commodity, sending the price of that commodity up.
Paul Ausick
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