(raw materials / closing price /% change)

Light Crude 48.77+0.25%

Gold 1,211.10 +0.03%

West Texas Intermediate oil pared gains after a government report showed that U.S. fuel stockpiles surged. Brent earlier slipped below $50 a barrel for the first time since May 2009.

Inventories of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, increased by a record 11.2 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said. Gasoline stockpiles advanced 8.12 million barrels while crude supplies decreased 3.06 million.

"This report is bearish overall because of the huge builds in distillate and gasoline supplies," John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on energy, said by phone. "You can ignore the crude number because there's already so much in storage. This decline was just a drop in the bucket."

Crude slumped by 48 percent last year, the most since the 2008 financial crisis, as the U.S. pumped at the fastest pace in more than three decades and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to maintain its output ceiling. The oversupply may take "months or years" to be absorbed, United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said.

WTI for February delivery increased 45 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $48.38 a barrel at 11:45 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange, paring an advance of as much as 2.9 percent. Futures earlier touched $46.83, the lowest level since April 2009. The volume of all futures traded was 52 percent above the 100-day average for the time of day.

Brent for February settlement fell 28 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $50.82 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It earlier touched $49.66, the least since April 29, 2009. Volume for all futures traded was 78 percent above the 100-day average. The European benchmark oil traded at a $2.44 premium to WTI.

Gold prices fell after data showed that employment in the private non-farm payrolls rose US in December more than expected.

ADP data released today showed that the level of employment in the US private sector grew last month at 241 thousand., Above is expected to increase by 227 thousand. The US economy created 227 thousand. Jobs in November, whose figure was revised upwards from 208 thousand .

Despite the fact that these data are not considered as reliable forecast on the performance of government employment report, scheduled for January 9, they do provide some insight on the future of statistics.

Later today, the Federal Reserve will publish its report next political meeting, which is expected, investors should clarify the future direction of monetary policy the US central bank.

In 2014, gold fell nearly 2% amid signs that the strengthening of the US economic recovery will force the Fed to start raising interest rates sooner and faster than expected.

Expectations of an increase of interest on loans have a negative impact on the dynamics of gold, as the precious metal are struggling to compete with earning assets during periods of high interest rates.

The cost of the February gold futures on the COMEX today fell to 1209.10 dollars per ounce.

Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate recovered today from new lows after declining for 4 days with Brent Crude falling below the level of USD50 in today's trading for the first time since May 2009. Prices slumped 48 percent in 2014 after three years of the highest average prices in history. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, declined to as low as $46.83 today, about a 56 percent decline from its June high and the lowest since April 2009.

Markets await U.S. Crude Oil Inventories due at 15:30 GMT.

The global glut continues in 2015 and a low global demand weighs amid record output from Iraq and Russia. Both major brands lost more than 50% of their value since mid-2014 but the OPEC, responsible for 40% of worldwide oil-production, decided to leave output-rates unchanged around 30 million barrels a day.

Brent Crude gained +0.88%, currently trading above USD50 at USD51.55 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate added +1.28% currently quoted at USD48.59.

Gold prices declined in today's session for the first time in 4 days but hold close to three-week highs after successfully rising above the USD1,200-threshold yesterday.

The precious metal continues to be under pressure with a strengthening greenback as the U.S. economy recovers and the FED is moving closer to raise interest rates. Today markets await the minutes from December's Federal Reserve policy meeting due later in the day at 19:00 GMT. The minutes may give further indication on the FED's 'patient' approach on rising benchmark interest rates for the first time since 2006. Earlier in today's session investors will closely watch the publication of the ADP Employment Report on private sector job creation due at 13:15 GMT for further indications on the recovery of the U.S. labour market.

The political turmoil in Greece where the anti-austerity party Syriza could come to power after the elections taking place on January 25^th and growing concerns over a potential Greek exit from the euro zone supported the precious metal's price.

The precious metal is currently quoted at USD1,214.60, -0,29% a troy ounce.

GOLD currently trading at USD1,214.60

Japan's Abe: may be able to declare end of deflation if wages rise

(Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday he may be able to declare that Japan has broken free from a long phase of deflation if companies continue to raise wages.

Abe also said he hopes that by improving the economy Japan will be able to contribute to global growth.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/07/us-japan-economy-abe-idUSKBN0KG0LV20150107

BLOOMBERG

SNB Interventions Boost Currency Reserves to Record High

The Swiss National Bank's foreign-currency reserves hit a record in December after an appreciation of the franc forced the institution to end a two-year hiatus in interventions.

Holdings increased to 495.1 billion francs ($490 billion) from a revised 462.7 billion francs in November, the central bank based in Zurich and Bern said on its website today. The holdings are calculated according to International Monetary Fund standards at the beginning of every month.

The SNB said on Dec. 18 that it had resumed purchases of foreign currencies after the franc hit its strongest since 2012 amid a weakening of the Russian economy and the prospect of more euro-area stimulus by the European Central Bank. It imposed a negative deposit rate to stave off capital inflows and lowered its target range for three-month franc Libor to reinforce its three-year-old minimum exchange rate of 1.20 per euro.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-07/snb-interventions-boost-currency-reserves-to-record-high-1-.html

BLOOMBERG

Global Crude Falls Below $50 as U.S. Supply Seen Adding to Glut

Oil fell below $50 a barrel in London for the first time since May 2009 amid speculation that U.S. inventories will increase, exacerbating a global supply glut that's driven prices to a five-year low.

Brent futures dropped as much as 2.3 percent for a fifth day of losses. Crude stockpiles in the world's biggest consumer probably expanded by 700,000 barrels last week, a Bloomberg News survey showed before an Energy Information Administration report today. China, the second-largest oil user, won't drive a market rebound in 2015 as its net imports will slow, according to Citigroup Inc.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-07/oil-trades-near-48-as-u-s-stocks-seen-adding-to-global-glut.html

(raw materials / closing price /% change)

Light Crude 48.00+0.15%

Gold 1,219.00 -0.03%