(raw materials / closing price /% change)

Light Crude 73.86 -0.31%

Gold 1,200.60 +0.29%

Crude futures slid after a meeting between nations supplying a third of the world's oil failed to result in a pledge to curb output in the run-up to this week's OPEC meeting.

Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Russia said they plan to start quarterly monitoring of oil prices. Today's talks in Vienna didn't result in any joint commitment to reduce supplies, said Igor Sechin, who runs Russian state oil producer OAO Rosneft.

"Even those four countries are not agreeing to any kind of cut, and the last thing the Saudis want is to be the ones doing all the cutting," said Tariq Zahir, a New York-based commodity fund manager at Tyche Capital Advisors. "You have to get an above 2-million-barrel cut from OPEC to stabilize the market."

Brent for January settlement lost $1.26, or 1.6 percent, to $78.42 a barrel at 12:08 p.m. New York time on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The volume of all futures was 5.2 percent above the 100-day average.

WTI for January delivery fell $1.38, or 1.8 percent, to $74.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Volume was 21 percent below the 100-day average. Brent's premium to WTI was $4.04 on the ICE.

Gold prices have returned to the opening day after a sharp decline on strong US GDP data, which caused a rise in the dollar.

US Department of Commerce to improve the estimate of GDP growth in the third quarter of 2014 from 3.5% to 3.9%, based on the annual rate, according to the published Tuesday revised data. Analysts on average had expected a decline to 3.3%.

In the 2nd quarter of this year the US GDP rose by 4.6%, showing the maximum growth since the fourth quarter of 2012. GDP growth in six months - April-September 2014 - was the best in more than a decade - from the 2nd half of 2003.

Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of the US economy grew in the third quarter by 2.2%, whereas previously reported an increase of 1.8%, while experts predicted revision to 1.9%. Their growth, in particular, explained the highest for several years increased spending on durable goods - by 8.7%. Consumer sector added 1.5 percentage points (pp) to the growth of US GDP in the last quarter.

Market participants also expect the results of the referendum in Switzerland about the gold reserves of the central bank. In Switzerland, November 30 will be a referendum on a proposal to ban the country's central bank to sell gold reserves and oblige him to keep at least 20 percent of assets in gold, compared with 8 percent in October. According to analysts, if the Swiss will support this proposal, the price of gold will rise.

"Voting" yes "can cause a rapid rise in gold prices to $ 50. Most market participants expect that the proposal would not be supported, and although such a decision is not unexpected, it may cause psychological blow to the market, and the downward trend will resume, although prices unlikely to fall much, "- said HSBC analyst James Steel.

The cost of the December gold futures on the COMEX today fell to 1189.0 dollars per ounce, and then increased to $ 1,200.

Oil prices edged up from 4-year lows in today's session with Brent Crude trading +0.50% at USD80.08 a barrel and WTI Crude gaining +0.37% currently quoted at USD76. Market participants are awaiting the outcome of the OPEC meeting, which will take place this week on Thursday in Vienna. According to an insider Iran, Iraq and Libya will not have to cut their supplies if the 12 oil ministers of the OPEC decide to trim production. The head of the Russian state oil company, Igor Sechin, met OPEC officials today fuelling rumours that Russia could trim quotas or exports if the OPEC decides to do the same.

Increasingly weak oil prices which have fallen by almost a third in five months add further pressure on the leading OPEC members Saudi Arabia and Kuwait that still seem resisting calls from other members to cut output as they fear losing market shares to U.S. shale drillers.

ECB's Coeure Says Officials Won't Rush as They Debate All Assets

The European Central Bank won't make a hasty decision to add more stimulus and will hinge any measures on incoming economic data, Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said.

"We'll have to understand how what we've already decided works -- we're not going to rush to a new decision without knowing," Coeure said yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg Television's Francine Lacqua. "We have to look at the data around us, and we have to discuss thoroughly all possible options in particular when it comes to buying new assets. There's unanimous agreement in the Governing Council that there might be situations where we'd have to do more."

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-24/coeure-says-ecb-won-t-rush-as-all-asset-options-discussed-1-.html

BLOOMBERG

Brent Drops a Second Day as OPEC Weighs Sparing Three From Cuts

Brent crude fell for a second day as OPEC considered exempting three members from potential production cuts when it meets this week. West Texas Intermediate also dropped in New York.

Futures dropped as much as 0.7 percent in London. Iraq, Iran and Libya won't have to trim supplies should the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agrees to reduce output, according to two people with knowledge of the proposal. If the market is oversupplied, it isn't the first time, Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said in Vienna yesterday as the 12-nation group prepared for discussions on Nov. 27.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-24/wti-drops-a-second-day-as-opec-considers-sparing-three-from-cut.html

REUTERS

U.S. prosecutors to interview London FX traders

(Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors will travel to London in the coming weeks to interview traders about currency market manipulation, the latest sign that authorities are closer to filing criminal charges stemming from the long-running probe, sources told Reuters.

Officials from the U.S. Department of Justice will interview current or former employees at HSBC Holdings plc among other banks, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/25/us-banks-forex-probe-exclusive-idUSKCN0J90DO20141125