Market Reflections 8/19/2009

Equities withstood a 4 percent sell-off in the Chinese market to end slightly higher at 996 on the S&P 500. However frothy the U.S. market may or may not be, with the S&P up 10 percent on the year, the Shanghai composite is up 60 percent on the year. Oil jumped $3 to $72.25 in reaction to stand-out draws in still swollen petroleum stocks. Other commodities showed little movement despite weakness in the dollar which reacted more to the gain in U.S. stocks, a gain that raised demand for risk, than the loss in China. The dollar index fell 0.7 percent to 78.50.