L'or en route pour sa plus forte chute en 3 jours depuis 28 ans

Le 26 septembre 2011

 Mots clés :  Dépêches Reuters

DÉPÊCHES REUTERS  LONDRES (Reuters) - L'or était bien parti ce lundi pour subir sa plus importante baisse en trois jours sur les 28 dernières années, les investisseurs se détournant du marché des matières premières afin de se protéger de l'impact potentiel d'un défaut grec sur le reste des pays de la zone euro.

"L'or est l'un des rares actifs qui est resté en territoire positif cette année (...), ainsi lorsque les investisseurs sont à la recherche d'argent, ils vendent les actifs qui ont performé. En gros, l'or est victime de son propre succès," a écrit dans une note Edel Tully, analyste chez UBS. Le prix de l'or au comptant se traitait à 1.623,19 dollars l'once vers 11h25 GMT, un recul de quelque 3%. Lors des trois derniers jours, l'or a chuté de près de 10%, sa plus grande baisse dans cette intervalle de temps depuis février 1983.

"Cela montre qu'en période de stress extrême, il n'y a pas de substitut approprié à la liquidité", a déclaré Tom Kendall, analyste chez Crédit Suisse. L'or a baissé de plus de 100 dollars vendredi dernier face au rebond du billet vert et à des rumeurs de liquidations de positions de la part d'importants fonds spéculatifs.

Le manque de consensus pour trouver une solution à la crise des dettes souveraines de la zone euro a poussé l'or vers des sommets cette année, jusqu'à atteindre plus de 1.900 dollars l'once. "La hausse de la volatilité du prix de l'or était clairement une indication que l'or n'était plus un actif à faible risque", a dit Nic Brown, stratège sur les matières premières à Natixis.

Amanda Cooper, Mehdi-Nicolas El Moueffak pour le service français, édité par Benoît Van Overstraeten

Definition of COMEX

By Michelle Leach, eHow Contributor 

updated November 19, 2010

COMEX operates as part of CME Group, the result of a merger between the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, whose trading floor is featured here.

COMEX, formerly "Commodity Exchange Inc.," is what's called a "designated contract market," according to CME Group. You have probably heard of the board of trade and COMEX, as a DCM, operates just like a board of trade or exchange -- a platform whereby these financial instruments are traded, according to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Money can be made or lost during these transactions.

1. Basics

   • Just as with other exchanges, there is an underlying good or item represented by futures and options agreements, according to the New York City-based investment products business Dreyfus. In the case of COMEX, the underlying goods to be traded are metals, including gold, silver and copper.

   History

   • COMEX's roots go back to the late 1800s. As a division of the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) Group, dedicated wholly to metals trading, CME's predecessor was the Chicago Butter and Egg, an exchange which opened in 1898. Some 20 years later, it became known as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. In more modern times, the CME and Chicago Board of Trade, which offered the first futures exchange in the Windy City in the mid-1800s, merged to form the CME Group.

   Structure

   • CME Group operates three markets, in addition to COMEX: CME, CBOT and the New York Mercantile Exchange, according to the group's official website. CME offers agricultural, energy and real estate products. CBOT's offerings are similar, and include equities indexes, while NYMEX boasts agriculture and a number of energy-related products.

   Oversight

   • As with other exchanges, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversees COMEX to assure that consumers are protected from abuses and fraud. Prospective DCMs must also apply to the commission, and once they are designated as a contract market, they must maintain standards, like fair trading, to remain DCMs, according to the CFTC site.

   Self-Regulation

   • According to the CME Group site, the organization also has its own committee dedicated to regulating the markets. This provides another layer of regulation, in addition to that afforded by the independent federal body of the CFTC. Each market, including COMEX, is subject to the same CME Group rules and regulations. Daily trade positions and users are surveyed, as a means of identifying and addressing potential trade abuses, and CME Group also issues advisory notices as a form of market guidance, according to its site.

Read more: Definition of COMEX | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_7372292_definition-comex.html#ixzz1Z82FlREj