Weak Dollar, Election Turmoil Rule Markets. Big GDP Growth Jump Flies Ignored

Published: Oct 31, 2016 10:37
The dollar slipped lower today and helped to send gold and silver higher during the trading session. Gold rose about 0.60% and silver about 0.95%.

Friday October 28, 2016 17:13

The dollar slipped lower today and helped to send gold and silver higher during the trading session. Gold rose about 0.60% and silver about 0.95%.

The weaker dollar did not rescue oil. West Texas Intermediate fell 2.00%, losing a full dollar per barrel. That pushed WTI firmly under $49 pb.

Chart

The yield on the U.S. 10-year bond held steady although it wavered when fresh election news hit the wire.

It was reported that the FBI is opening a different inquiry into some emails related to Hillary Clinton’s former aide and her disgraced husband, former Congressman Anthony Weiner.

Those new emails were discovered during an FBI investigation in which the devices of former Congressman Anthony Weiner and Clinton aide Huma Abedin were seized, The New York Times reported. It is believed that the investigation that brought these new email issues to light is associated with a probe into Weiner’s sexting scandal with an underage girl.

"In previous congressional testimony, I referred to the fact that the Federal Bureau Of Investigation (FBI) had completed its investigation of former Secretary Clinton's personal email server. Due to recent developments, I am writing to supplement my previous testimony," FBI Director James Comey wrote.

"In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation. I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation," he added.

A senior law enforcement official said the investigation was being re-opened “out of an abundance of caution.”

Regardless of the reasons or timing of this development, equities on the DJIA, which had been trending modestly higher, tumbled 150 points before recovering to not quite even. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ are holding slightly lower as the afternoon wears on.

Earlier in the day, stocks in Europe and Asia were mixed to down.

The final word for the week, which was lost in the sauce of the new email inquiry, is a significant uptick in U.S. GDP growth in the third quarter.

Although it is a preliminary number subject to revision up or down, economic growth in the period ending September 30th was 2.9%.

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