American equity markets continued their run in Thursday trading as a solid Chicago PMI and declining jobless claims helped markets to end the quarter on a strong note. The Dow rose by 1.3% in the session, leading the broader indexes as the Nasdaq rose by 1.2% and the S&P 500 gained 1.0%. Commodities were more mixed on the day as gold lost close to $11/oz. and oil added a few cents, keeping the WTI benchmark just below the $95/bbl. level. Soft commodities were especially volatile, as products such as cocoa and coffee held firm, while crops such as corn and wheat plunged on the day by over 4% each. These sharp losses came despite a marginally weaker dollar and were on the back of a USDA report which suggested that acreage, and thus supply, of major grains would be up this season. Turning to Treasury markets, investors saw continued outflows from [...] Click here to read the original article on ETFdb.com. Related Posts: Wednesday’s ETF To Watch: Industrial Select Sector SPDR (XLI) Daily ETF Roundup: DBA Surges On Crop Speculation, PBW Falls On Alternative Energy Woes ETFs & Sector Rotation: Large Cap, Small Cap, Or International? ETF Insider: Weak Dollar Creates Opportunities Three ETFs To Watch This Week: EWP, XLI, EWC