TopNews

Vienna - Developing countries on Thursday effectively blocked plans by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for nuclear fuel banks that aim to keep countries from acquiring sensitive nuclear technology by offering them alternatives.

The Vienna-based IAEA had asked member countries of its governing board to give the green light for fleshing out proposals to sway countries to buy nuclear fuel from abroad, by providing them with an insurance in case their supply is cut off for political reasons.

The USD/JPY finally yielded to our 3rd tier downtrend line after knocking on the door for several days.  The currency pair proceeded to drop through our 3rd tier uptrend line without hesitation on rising volume.

However, volume did not reach an abnormal level, and the USD/JPY is finding support once again at our 2nd tier uptrend line.  Our 2nd tier uptrend line continues to be a reliable defense, and the USD/JPY may very well bobble between our trend lines as they reach their respective inflection points.

Washington - It turns out US President Barack Obama's successful swat of a bothersome insect during a taped interview did not fly with animal rights groups.

Pressed by journalists, the animal advocates organization PETA decided to react - albeit with some humour - to Obama's quick handed killing of the fly, which was aired on television by CNBC.

Gold is consolidating just above our 2nd and 3rd uptrend lines while encouragingly experiencing a little volume to the upside yesterday.  The positive volume is encouraging since we've seen more interest to the downside lately.

The present consolidation of gold reflects the S&P's hesitation at its highly psychological 900 level.  Since gold is positively correlation with U.S. equities now, a fundamental breakdown in one could coincide with or be followed by a similar pullback in the other.

Therefore, investors should be watching gold's 2nd and 3rd tier uptrend lines closely.  For if these trend lines down hold, we could witness another near-term pullback towards our 1st tier downtrend line and the $907/oz area.

Crude futures caught themselves after dipping below the psychological $70/bbl level yesterday. Bulls came to the rescue in reaction to the second straight shallow weekly inventory report, and the futures are skating along our 2nd tier uptrend line.  In fact, it is the 5th time in six weeks crude inventories have declined.

The steady drop in inventories has allowed crude futures to exert a relative strength in contrast to the recent weakness in U.S. and appreciation of the U.S. Dollar.  However, the fact that crude fell below $70/bbl yesterday could be a negative indicator, foreboding of a steeper pullback on the horizon.

Geneva - The International Committee of the Red Cross demanded Thursday that it be allowed to visit an Israeli soldier being detained in the Gaza Strip since June
2006.

Since he was captured in a cross-border raid, Gilad Shalit has not met with a representative of the ICRC, as he is entitled to under international law, the organization said in a statement.

Former US president Jimmy Carter handed over this week to the Hamas authorities in the coastal enclave, a letter from Shalit's family to him.