Forget what happened on Wall Street, the FOFA laws, the Fed’s minutes and anything else – the big news for local investors is the fall overnight in global iron ore prices to $US70.20 a tonne.
That is going to electrify investors and send the prices of leading miners even lower, especially if prices fall under the $US70 a tonne mark tonight, which they could easily do.
World oil prices fell in late trading in New York this morning after the Fed’s minutes were issued.
Prices had risen earlier in the day on statements by Libya that OPEC will cut production quotas next week.
Brent crude fell by US37c or 0.5% to $US78.10 a barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate crude price fell by 3 US cents to $US74.58 a barrel, and then eased further to around $US74.45.
Comex gold futures in New York price traded down $US11 an ounce, losing ground after the Fed minutes (and their hawkish commentary on interest rates and the economy) to around $US1,183 an ounce in after hours trading.
But it will be the fall of iron ore prices to that psychological level of $US70 a tonne which will impact sentiment today – it was a fall of more than 2%, meaning prices are down more than 6% in two days.
