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Washington - US President Barack Obama on Friday signed legislation that forces new restrictions on US tobacco companies and gives the government broad new powers to regulate the industry.

Obama said the law, which was passed by both houses of Congress earlier this month, "represents change that's been decades in the making."

New York - Left out of the rich bail-out measures seen the United States and some European countries, developing countries on Monday called for similar fiscal stimulus packages to help their worryingly sliding economies.

The South Center, an intergovernmental think tank of some 50 developing countries, said the poor left out of rich bail-out packages in Western countries now need an additional 1 trillion to 2 trillion dollars in stimulus measures.

August Crude futures are dropping quickly in reaction to the World Bank's downward revision of projected global growth.  A lower global growth rate implies declining production and consequently consumption of crude.  Weekly inventories have been shallow lately and production remains constrained by OPEC, yet it is debatable whether crude futures have outdone themselves in overexcitement concerning a global economic recovery.

We've seen the price of crude range between roughly $40/bbl-$140/bbl in less than a year, and it seems investors are uncertain where to place fair value for the commodity.  The roughly $100/bbl trading range is historical to say the least, so we are treading on uncharted territory. 

The S&P futures are drifting lower after the World Banks slashed its expectation for global growth.  It appears as if the futures are in for another retest of 900.  U.S. equities may be giving into their downtrend tendencies as market sentiment turns sour.  Hence, the sideways trading range may finally break with investors deciding upon a direction.

However, 900 is a tricky level, and 880-900 should prove to be a worthy near-term ally of the bulls.  Economic data continues to come in mixed and it remains to be seen whether the economic stabilization can materialize into a recovery.

Gold is reacting negatively to the inflection point of our 2nd and 3rd tier uptrend lines.  The swift pullback in gold follows a week of tight consolidation, signifying investors are siding with the downside after a period of indecisiveness.

We believe today's movement to the south could be a game-changing statement with a retest of the highly psychological $900/oz likely.  Gold's pullback is discouraging for equity markets due to the positive correlation between the precious metal and the S&P futures.

Paris - French police have taken into custody some 20 people they believe are connected to last December's 85-million-euro (118 million dollars) heist from the renowned Harry Winston jewellery store in the heart of Paris, France 3 television reported Monday.

The arrests were made Sunday and Monday in and around the greater Paris area. No other details were provided about the identity of the arrested or about how many of them were released.