Commodity stocks hit as global growth fears resurface

With a Federal Reserve interest rate hike seemingly nailed on for the 16th December central bank meeting, it was a bad day for oil inventories to hit a 10-year high and reawaken fears that the global economy is slowing faster than expected. Reports of an additional 100 million barrels stuck out at sea on oil tankers unable to offload added to the sense of oversupply.  Other commodities such as copper and gold sold off as a result, the selling also reinforced by prospects of a stronger US dollar. Shares in mining, oil and energy all dragged down their respective stock markets in UK, Europe and the USA where the S&P500 index slipped into negative territory for the year. This may well be a short term technical sell off following the bounce from recent lows and all eyes will be on a slew of economic data from the US later today.