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Stocks Open Low, US Bonds Rise On Italian Debt Worries

Contributed by StockPriceToday

Despite an impressive late afternoon rally both the Standard and Poors 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average started the week off with a weak trading session after an equally weak Italian bond auction saw them sold at the  highest yields in more than a decade.  The S&P closed down nearly 1% at 1251.78 while the Dow fared better losing just 0.6% to close at 12078.98.  Volume on both indexes was light.

Risk aversion was the order of the day as the 30 year US Treasury Bond saw steady buying starting late Sunday evening which carried through New York trading hours.  The yield fell slightly to 3.092% down from 3.12% on Friday.  The energy complex was sold as well, with Brent Crude futures off nearly 2% along with Natural Gas futures down 0.26%.  All markets seem to be keying off of the US long bond and the EURUSD cross at this point.  The Euro traded down to close on the NYMEX at 136.34, off 0.8%  This has been in effect since the Federal Reserve announced �eOperation Twist 2�Œ in September of this year.

Gold was down $11.20 to end the COMEX session at $1789.40 on light volume while Silver was off almost 2% to $34.02.  The Gold to Silver ratio now stands at 52.27 further confirming that Silver is still trading with the commodity complex and not as a monetary instrument.  Copper while volatile was relatively unchanged at $3.49/lb.