Elsewhere, in commodities, gold fell steeply last week, along with other precious metals including silver, platinum, and palladium and volumes were much heavier than average in related ETF and ETN products. SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) and iShares Gold Trust (NYSEArca: IAU) closed below their 200 day moving averages for the first time this year, and not surprisingly, GLD saw nearly $1 billion flow out of the fund this week via redemptions.
Metals were not the only space in commodities to take a hit last week, as crude oil felt the pain over the latter half of last week as well, with U.S. Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO) for instance falling through both its 200 day and 50 day moving averages in the span of three days and closing at its lowest levels since early November.
On the currency front, CurrencyShares Euro Trust (NYSEArca: FXE) reached new recent lows on Wednesday before recovering somewhat to end the week, and flows suggest that options and ETF institutional players are still positioning for a weaker euro against the U.S. dollar amid overall concerns about Europe’s economic health. As we look into early overseas action to start this week, we see that Fitch Ratings have warned that they may cut the credit ratings of European nations and this has caused moderate sell-offs in most equity markets worldwide, as well as a renewed retreat in the Euro.
With December options expiration “noise” now behind us, we will watch the VIX closely this week for new indications of potential signs of where this equity market may take us through this upcoming holiday week and the close of 2011.
S&P 500
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