The ratings agency Moody's affirmed the U.S. credit rating at "Aaa" on Wednesday. The outlook is "stable".

Moody's warned that there could be uncertainty "from the contentiousness of the political process".

"On a positive note, the process has introduced an element of spending restraint which has contributed to deficit reduction ahead of our expectations in recent years," Moody's Senior Vice President Steven Hess said.

"The Aaa rating is buttressed by a large and diverse economy, a strong record of GDP and productivity growth, and the status of the dollar and the US Treasury bond as global reserve currency and benchmark, respectively," Moody's concluded.

Oil prices traded mixed on the U.S. crude inventories data. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its crude oil inventories data on Wednesday. U.S. crude inventories increased by 3.07 million barrels to 461.0 million in the week to October 02. It was the second consecutive increase.

Analysts had expected U.S. crude oil inventories to rise by 2.00 million barrels.

Gasoline inventories increased by 1.9 million barrels, according to the EIA.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, climbed by 98,000 barrels.

U.S. crude oil imports fell by 486,000 barrels per day.

Refineries in the U.S. were running at 87.5% of capacity, down from 89.8% the previous week.

Yesterday's comments by OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla Salem el-Badri still supported oil prices. He said on Tuesday that oil prices will rebound due to lower oil investments. el-Badri expects global oil investments to drop by 22.4% this year.

WTI crude oil for November delivery declined to $48.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude oil for November climbed to $52.00 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.

Gold price declined on a stronger U.S. dollar and due to a rise in stock markets. Stock markets were supported by on speculation that the Fed will delay its interest rate hike.

Concerns over the slowdown in the global economy also supported gold price. The negative German industrial production data added to these concern. Destatis released its industrial production data for Germany on Wednesday. German industrial production slid 1.2% in August, missing expectations for a 0.2% gain, after a 1.2% rise in July. July's figure was revised up from a 0.7% increase.

The World Gold Council said on Wednesday that central banks' gold reserves rose by 47 metric tons in August, after an increase by 62 tons in July. China and Russia were the biggest buyers.

December futures for gold on the COMEX today fell to 1146.30 dollars per ounce.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its crude oil inventories data on Wednesday. U.S. crude inventories increased by 3.07 million barrels to 461.0 million in the week to October 02. It was the second consecutive increase.

Analysts had expected U.S. crude oil inventories to rise by 2.00 million barrels.

Gasoline inventories increased by 1.9 million barrels, according to the EIA.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, climbed by 98,000 barrels.

U.S. crude oil imports fell by 486,000 barrels per day.

Refineries in the U.S. were running at 87.5% of capacity, down from 89.8% the previous week.

Oil driller Baker Hughes said on Wednesday that the international rig count for September 2015 rose to 1,140 from 1,137 in August 2015.

The average U.S. rig number for September 2015 declined to 848 in September 2015 from the 883 in August 2015.

The worldwide rig count for September 2015 decreased to 2,171 from the 2,226 in August 2015.

The People's Bank of China (PBoC) said on Wednesday that the country's foreign-exchange reserves declined by $43.26 billion to $3.514 trillion in September from a month earlier.

China's foreign-exchange reserves dropped by $93.9 billion to $3.557 trillion in August after the yuan devaluation.

OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla Salem el-Badri said on Tuesday that oil prices will rebound due to lower oil investments. He expects global oil investments to drop by 22.4% this year.

el-Badri noted that this could mean less supply.

"Less supply means high prices," he said.

West Texas Intermediate futures for November delivery jumped to $48.55 (+4.95%), while Brent crude advanced to $51.87 (+5.32%) after the Energy Information Administration boosted its 2015 global oil demand forecast by 170K barrels per day (bpd) to 1.34 million bpd. The demand forecast for 2016 was revised higher by 100K bpd to 1.14 million bpd. WTI Oil average price is seen at $49.53/barrel this year compared to the previous forecast of 49.23/barrel. Forecasts for the 2016 WTI average and Brent average remained unchanged at $53.57/barrel and $58.57/barrel respectively.

The EIA will release its inventories data later today. Meanwhile the American Petroleum Institute reported on Tuesday that U.S. crude-oil inventories are likely to have shrunk by 1.2 million barrels in the past week.

Gold rose to $1,146.50 (+0.78%) despite gains in Asian equities as new data on the U.S. economy suggested that the Federal Reserve will postpone a rate hike.

U.S. trade deficit expanded in August amid a stronger dollar, low commodity prices and slow growth overseas affected demand for U.S. products. The deficit rose by seasonally adjusted 15.6% to $48.33 billion in August. Imports rose by 1.2%, while exports fell by 2% (the lowest level since October 2012).

The IMF cut global GDP growth forecast for 2015 and 2016 by 0.2% to 3.1% and 3.6% respectively. "Relative to last year, the recovery in advanced economies is expected to pick up slightly, while activity in emerging market and developing economies is projected to slow for the fifth year in a row, primarily reflecting weaker prospects for some large emerging market economies and oil-exporting countries," the IMF said. U.S. GDP growth forecast was cut by 0.5% to 2% for this year and by 0.7% to 2.2% for 2016. Euro zone economic growth forecast was kept at 1.5% for 2015 and lowered by 0.1% to 1.6% for 2016.

(raw materials / closing price /% change)

Oil$49.04 +1.05%

Gold$1,147.00 +0.05%