The European hangover continued into Wednesday, with fears about decreased
government spending across the euro zone taking its toll on commodities. Oil
futures were down about $5 per barrel, and gold prices fell below $1,600,
breaking its 200-day moving average for the first time in almost two years
taking down numerous funds and stocks as a result. Across the oil world,
powerhouses like Chevron (NYSE: CVX ) and Hess (NYSE: HES ) were sustaining
losses, to the tune of 3% and 4%, respectively. The drop also was reflected
across oil-based funds, such as the iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return (NYSE:
OIL , -5.23%), the PowerShares DB Oil Fund ETF (NYSE: DBO , -4.83%) and the
United States Brent Oil Fund (NYSE: BNO , -4.39%). Much that was gold didn't
glitter, either, with the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD ) down around 3.5% and the
iShares Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU ) down almost 4%. Miners were especially burned,
with Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY ) down almost 6% and NovaGold (AMEX: NG ) shedding
5.6%. Silver suffered, too, with the iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV ) down
about 6%, but those betting against the metal today through the ProShares
UltraShort Silver ETF (NYSE: ZSL ) had one of the biggest upside surprises of
the day, gaining almost 12% on their investments. The solar sector wasn't
faring much better Wednesday after First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR ) reduced fiscal
year forecasts for the third time this year and saw shares shredded by more than
21%. A number of factors have weighed on solar stocks for some time, but First
Solar's news was a strong catalyst that bombed companies like SunPower
(NASDAQ: SPWR , -16%) and Suntech Power (NYSE: STP , -4.17%). Three Up Vertex
Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX ): Up 6.56% ($1.88) to $30.54. Avon Products
(NYSE: AVP ): Up 5.08% (82 cents) to $16.96. ( Read more about Avon ousting its
CEO and whether AVP is a safe stock here. ) Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL ): Up 2%
(16 cents) to $8.15. Three Down Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S ): Down 5.02% (12 cents)
to $2.27. Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW ): Down 4.86% (56 cents) to $10.97. Sears
Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD ): Down 4.73% ($2.54) to $51.17. As of this writing, Kyle
Woodley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned stocks. Check out
our list of previous IP Market Recaps .
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