The focal points in the market remain largely the same on this fine Wednesday morning. Oil continues to be the big topic of discussion with both the EIA and OPEC reducing their demand forecasts today. In addition, Iran says that oil could fall to $40 or below as price wars take hold among OPEC members. All of the above has crude futures falling again today after Tuesday's brief reprieve. Stocks rebounded in China on the back of weaker than expected inflation data, which fueled hopes for rate cuts from the PBoC. In Europe, the uncertainty surrounding the political situation in Greece remains as Samaras does not appear to have the votes needed to form a government quickly. Here at home, Congress reached a deal to avoid a government shutdown and traders continue to fret over the upcoming Fed meeting. U.S. stock futures appear to be following crude oil this morning and currently point to a weaker open on Wall Street.
Current Market Environment
There is but one word needed to sum up Tuesday's market action: Wow. When I flipped on my office lights at 5:13 am and the screens began to stream news and flash quotes from around the world, things didn't look so hot. China's Shanghai Composite was down 5.4%, European bourses were diving, Greece was back in the news, and traders were fretting about the Fed. Stocks remained overbought after an historic joyride to the upside. And traders appeared to have little reason to do any buying here. And with the U.S. futures sporting a bright shade of red, it looked like the day was going to be u-g-l-y. And in the early going, it was as the Dow was off more than 220 points in the first hour. However, a bounce in oil, some more talk about ...
