June 13, 2014 - Market News Daily

Today hot Assets: Oil, USD

Tensions escalated in Iraq yesterday as militants fought government forces seized the city of Kirkuk. Iraq is close to civil war and largest oil producer, a surge in oil prices would hinder the global economy. U.S. stocks fell because of the uncertainty and the market received worse than the Retail Sales and Jobless Claims data expected. At the close of the session S & P 500 0.71% lower and the Dow Jones 0.65% lower. Asian stocks, however, climbed today shrugging off turmoil. Following positive data, it seemed that China is pumping additional funds into the economy in an effort to boost the economy. Both China's Fixed Asset Investment and Retail Sales Expected to Beat positivity into the market and the Hang Seng closed 0.69% higher. The Nikkei added 0.83% after the Bank of Japan did not change its monetary policy and the dollar moved higher against the Yen.

WTI Crude soared as Iraq tensions intensified. The commodity is now trading above $ 107/barrel, the highest close since September. Iraq is the world's largest producer of oil on the 8th and a spike in prices could be bad for the economy. Wants the biggest threat to the market if militants took Baghdad and moved to the oil patch. Gold also climbed to the tension. Weakness in equities and weak U.S. data also helped push the metal to a high 3 weeks.

Key events today:

12:30 GMT: USD - PPI - measures the change in the price of goods sold by manufacturers. Is a leading indicator of consumer price inflation

14:00 GMT: USD - Michigan consumer sentiment - rates the relative level of current economic conditions and future