GLOBAL MARKETS-Euro weakens broadly; S&P 500 erases 2011 gains
NEW YORK, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The euro weakened about 1 percent against the dollar and the yen on Wednesday, one day before an important auction of long-dated Italian debt, while U.S. stocks slid more than 1 percent on concerns about the economy in early 2012.
"If European banks are still this concerned, it's not a good sign," said Karl Schamotta, senior markets strategist with Western Union Business Solutions. "That underlines the possibility that this liquidity crunch is getting worse and will continue into the new year.
COMMODITIES-Oil snaps 6-day run-up; gold at 3-month low
NEW YORK, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Oil closed lower on Wednesday, snapping a six-day run-up,and gold prices fell too, hitting three-month lows, as a rally in the dollar pressured commodities denominated in the U.S. currency.
"The worry is that (European) banks are borrowing and then sitting on the money and not lending it, and that will limit growth just like it did in the United States," said Mark Waggoner, president at Excel Futures Inc, an oil and commodities broker in Bend, Oregon.
US crude stocks seen down on imports, seasonal draws
Dec 28 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil inventories are expected to have fallen for the seventh consecutive period last week as refiners delayed imports to keep inventories low for year-end tax considerations, an expanded Reuters poll of analysts showed on Wednesday.
Averaging the views of nine analysts, crude stockpiles were expected to be down 1.7 million barrels, the preliminary survey showed.
US gasoline demand up over Christmas holiday
Dec 28 (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline demand rose sharply last week from the previous week as Americans hit the road for the Christmas holiday, but demand was down from the same week in 2010, MasterCard said in its weekly SpendingPulse report on Wednesday.
Last week's gasoline demand rose 7.7 percent compared with the previous week, MasterCard said, but demand was 1.6 percent lower than it was a year ago.
Oil falls on dollar's rise, Wall St pullback
NEW YORK, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday, snapping a string of six straight sessions of gains as part of a broad sell-off across commodities and equities.
"The complex wasted little time in offsetting yesterday's strong gains as the Tuesday injection of geopolitical risk premium was negated by today's broad based de-risking," Jim Ritterbusch, president at Ritterbusch & Associates, said in a note.
NYMEX-Natural gas ends lower, Jan slips at expiration
NEW YORK, Dec 28 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures ended lower on Wednesday, as concerns about record-high supplies outweighed the outlook for stronger demand due to colder Northeast and Midwest weather forecasts for next week.
"The colder forecast is a little supportive, but I think we just saw a little booksquaring today ahead of expiration and the end of the year," a Pennsylvania-based trader said, noting volume ahead of the New Year's holiday was very light.
Euro Coal-Market tracks oil during low activity
LONDON, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Physical prompt coal markets saw little activity in the first full day of trading after Christmas on Wednesday, and in the absence of spot trades to give price direction, coal was largely tracking the oil, as it has for the past few months.
There was little coal trading activity on Wednesday as many traders were bridging the Christmas and New Year holidays.
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