US markets in red as Fed’s tapering talk persists

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - Equities in the US markets are trading on the back foot on Friday, threatening to interrupt the fifth consecutive week of gains. Market participants remain cautious on the future steps of the Fed, as chatter about tapering the ongoing flow of stimulus have been growing after Bernanke’s testimony. After advancing in the last two weeks, the US Dollar Index is closing this week in red, hovering over 83.70/75 after climbing to the boundaries of 84.60.
DowJones is losing 0.03%, followed by the Nasdaq and the S&P500, down 0.29% and 0.19%, respectively.

Bourses in Euroland closed the week with losses, as rumours involving the Fed and the current bond buying weighted on the indices. The FTSE100 retreated 2.72%, followed by the IBEX35, 0.95% and the CAC40, 0.59%.
The single currency returned to the low 1.29s after climbing to the doorsteps of the key 1.3000 handle on better-than-expected IFO results.

In the commodities’ realm, both the ounce troy of the precious metal and the barrel of crude oil are giving ground, losing 0.34% at $1,387 and 0.11% at $94.13, respectively.