The US Stock market indexes closed lower for the third day in a row after today’s trading hours. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0, 43%, the S&P 500 followed with a 0, 77% and the Nasdaq Composite took the hardest beating of the day, finishing with -1, 48%. Preparation for the FED interest rate hike seems to be everything these days, and it will most likely be the last big market event of the year.

A rebound in Oil prices and some commodity prices gains helped the energy and material sector finish higher than the indexes today, after 2 poor days driven be declining petrol prices. The future of oil is heavily debated, with traders looking from OPEC statements to crude oil supply and trying to guess where price is going. Oil futures have headed lower today after the weekly petroleum supply report published by the EIA which left deep wounds in the investor’s confidence.

The biggest corporate news of today was the possible mega-merger of DuPont and Dow Chemical, which was the main driver that limited losses in the indexes today. There is also news in the corporate area coming from Yahoo, which is currently considering a spin-off of its core business into a separate company, much like Hewlett-Packard split into Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc. The rumors that Yahoo are planning to sell their internet branch is attracting more and more possible customers, Verizon even confirming that they would be interested if the business would ever hit the market.

In currency news, the dollar had a disappointing day, losing ground against almost all currencies, with biggest losses amounting against the Euro and the Yen. Eur/Usd is currently traded above the 1, 10 level, but there are strong dollar bulls waiting there to place orders in the events of the following rate hike. As we approach the holiday period quickly, we are keen to see where the dollar will end 2015: completely victorious or showing signs of weakness?