Good morning everyone. Highlighting the hazards of faith-based investing, gold has fallen for the eighth straight time, bringing down the price of the yellow metal to a five-year low. Short duration U.S. treasurys meanwhile continue to slide amid renewed hawkishness from the Fed. Also slipping was WTI crude, who saw its price fall below $50 for the first time since April on the back of record output from Saudi Arabia and the potential return of Iraq and Iran to the world oil market. China’s slowdown and the Dollar’s strength also hamper its prospects for returning. It wasn’t all bad though, U.S. and European equities all posted gains, with the Nasdaq and the CAC posting new records.
Here’s what else you need to know:
Asian futures trade mixed. Futures on the FTSE China A50 Index climbed 0.5% while contracts on the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index traded flat, gaining less than 0.1%. Futures on China’s CSI 300 Index meanwhile fell 3.3%, and the Nikkei – returning from a holiday – dropped 0.2% in latest trading. Bloomberg
China ramps up its anti-corruption drive. Ling Jihua, a former aide to Chinese President Hu Jintao, was reportedly expelled from the Communist party and is currently facing charges of bribery-taking and obtaining state secrets – a charge that could land him a secret trial. WSJ (paywall)
“Hostile foreign investors” are everywhere, man. Lin Zuoming, chairman of China’s largest state-owned aerospace firm, recently warned his countrymen to keep their guard up against “hostile foreign investors,” saying that “(t)he malicious short sellers who tried to knock down the A shares are not low-level investors.. …We must continue to make an all-out effort to fight against them. We won’t withdraw our forces before an overwhelming triumph over them.” SCMP (paywall)
Hanergy Thin Film might sue the SFC. Offended by the SFC’s gall in suspending its allegedly-manipulated shares, Hanergy Thin Film said that it will appeal the SFC’s decision to suspend its stock and if need be, file a lawsuit against it. Considering that they just cancelled a nearly $7 billion deal with their number one customer, parent company Hanergy Group, this should be interesting. Want China Times / WSJ (paywall)
Quick! Grab it! An asteroid that swung by Earth Sunday reportedly contained “up to 90 million metric tons of platinum and other precious metals,” or $5.4 trillion in evil big corporation terms. MarketWatch
Some people are sweating right now. Ashley Madison, the online dating platform that helps married people cheat, has been hacked. Hackers posted some data after the breach, and have threatened to release all the personal information about Ashley Madison users if the website doesn’t shut down. The site, which boasts the slogan “Life is short. Have an affair,” claims to have 37 million members. CNN Money
Photo credit: Moyan Brenn via Flickr