Exchange traded funds were in risk-off mode Wednesday following President Barack Obama’s election victory and on renewed concerns over Europe’s debt crisis.
The Dow was off more than 300 points as worries turned to the looming U.S. fiscal cliff that could send the economy into a tailspin.
“We are now squarely focused on what are you going to do about the fiscal cliff and how is Europe going to resolve this (debt crisis) problem, those two problems haven’t gone away,” Ron Florance, managing director of investment strategy for Wells Fargo Private Bank, told Reuters.
PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (NYSEArca: UUP) climbed to a two-month high as investors moved to safe havens.
In commodities, SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) was fractionally negative while U.S. Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO) slipped nearly 4%.