In a responsive action, the prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, called for new elections to save his party’s hopes of a tax stimulus to support Japan’s fragile economy. This helped to propel the US dollar to 7-year high against the Japanese Yen to settle at ¥117.69/USD with traders awaiting the release of the minutes from the US Federal Reserve meeting. Meanwhile, contracts on West Texas Intermediate crude recovered slightly, up 0.54% from last week’s 5-year lows, signaling a new support level for traders. In a drastic downturn of North American temperatures, heating oil futures are up 0.99% in just under 5 days of trading.

“An active response from Japan’s Abe is an encouraging sign for the world economy. We are entering a very delicate period for the US economy. Any positive news will help support markets going into the holiday season,” said John Jacobs, Executive Vice President of Nasdaq Global Indexes.

INDEX MOVES THIS WEEK

• NASDAQ OMX GLOBAL GOLD & PRECIOUS METALS (QGLD) is up 3.17% since Friday’s close. The price of gold is currently $1,177 per ounce, up $13 since last week.
• NASDAQ BIOTECHNOLOGY INDEX (NBI) is up 2.35% since Friday’s close. Year-to-date performance for the index is up 30.2%.
• NASDAQ UTILITY SECTOR (UTY) is up 1.43% since Friday’s close. The index is up 19.02% YTD.

INDEX TO WATCH

• The PHLX Oil Service Sector (OSX) is comprised of corporations in the oil services industry. Currently, the index includes 15 securities, both domestic and international. This week, Halliburton announced the purchase of Baker Hughes, both components of OSX.