The European hangover continued into Wednesday, with fears about decreased government spending across the euro zone taking its toll on commodities. Oil futures were down about $5 per barrel, and gold prices fell below $1,600, breaking its 200-day moving average for the first time in almost two years — taking down numerous funds and stocks as a result.
Across the oil world, powerhouses like Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Hess (NYSE:HES) were sustaining losses, to the tune of 3% and 4%, respectively. The drop also was reflected across oil-based funds, such as the iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return (NYSE:OIL, -5.23%), the PowerShares DB Oil Fund ETF (NYSE:DBO, -4.83%) and the United States Brent Oil Fund (NYSE:BNO, -4.39%).
Much that was gold didn’t glitter, either, with the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) down around 3.5% and the iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) down almost 4%. Miners were especially burned, with Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) down almost 6% and NovaGold (AMEX:NG) shedding 5.6%. Silver suffered, too, with the iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) down about 6%, but those betting against the metal today through the ProShares UltraShort Silver ETF (NYSE:ZSL) had one of the biggest upside surprises of the day, gaining almost 12% on their investments.
The solar sector wasn’t faring much better Wednesday after First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) reduced fiscal year forecasts for the third time this year and saw shares shredded by more than 21%. A number of factors have weighed on solar stocks for some time, but First Solar’s news was a strong catalyst that bombed companies like SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR, -16%) and Suntech Power (NYSE:STP, -4.17%).
Three Up
- Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX): Up 6.56% ($1.88) to $30.54.
- Avon Products (NYSE:AVP): Up 5.08% (82 cents) to $16.96. (Read more about Avon ousting its CEO and whether AVP is a safe stock here.)
- Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL): Up 2% (16 cents) to $8.15.
Three Down
- Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S): Down 5.02% (12 cents) to $2.27.
- Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW): Down 4.86% (56 cents) to $10.97.
- Sears Holdings (NASDAQ:SHLD): Down 4.73% ($2.54) to $51.17.
As of this writing, Kyle Woodley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned stocks. Check out our list of previous IP Market Recaps.
