In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 87.43 points at 27,846.59. The S&P 500 index was down 4.01 points at 3,116.17, while the Nasdaq composite was down 0.53 points at 8,570.13.The January crude contract was up US$1.29 at US$56.64 per barrel and the December natural gas contract was up 3.8 cents at US$2.55 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$5.50 at US$1,468.80 an ounce and the December copper contract was down 5.5 cents at US$2.65 a pound.