Trading Fears Mount as Federal Deficit Expected to Top $9 Trillion by 2020

In the stock market the Dow ended yesterday with a 30 point gain, but looks about 18 points lower at the open. Traders are beginning to express concern about our mounting federal deficit. According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) the deficit is expected to swell by $9 trillion over the next decade. That’s an incredibly large number to try to recover.

Metals are trading flat to a shade higher over in late morning European action. Silver is unchanged at $14.29. Gold is $3.00 higher and changing hands at $947.00. Palladium is $288.00 having edged up $2.00 since yesterday’s close. Platinum is down $8.00 and trading at $1234.00 per ounce.

Background barometers are flat to lower with Crude Oil quiet at $72.07. Oil ended sharply lower yesterday as technical selling pushed prices down by $2.32 per barrel. Crude is currently up 2 cents with traders looking to see a 2.7 million barrel decline when today’s Weekly Oil Inventories get reported.

Over in the currency markets the Euro is trading a quarter of a U.S cent lower in advance of today’s U.S. economic data. Both of today’s reports are expected to show improvement. July Durable Goods are expected to show a rise of 3.2% compared to June’s decline of 2.5%. That’s a pretty good jump. Durable Goods are the more expensive items we purchase. They tend to have useful lives of 3 or more years (i.e. appliances, furniture, and vehicles). Being expensive; they tend to be more sensitive to consumer confidence and budgetary constraints. New Home Sales for July are also expected to show a slight improvement with the latest estimate sitting at 390,000 versus last month’s 384,000. The numbers continue to be weak, but they are moving in the right direction. Last on the Euro $1.4290.

On the geo-political front Lybia’s leader Muammr Qaddafi plans to visit the U.S. and stay in his diplomatic mansion in New Jersey. New Jersey is home for a number of families which lost loved ones in the Pan Am Lockerbie bombing. Sometimes you have to scratch your head and wonder. I can only imagine what the press will do with this story once Qaddafii shows up. In a final note, political icon Senator Ted Kennedy has passed away at age 77 from brain cancer.