Daily Data Flow: U.S. Stocks Drop; Canadian Dollar; Gold & Oil

U.S. Stocks Drop as House Republicans Cancel Vote (Bloomberg)
U.S. stocks sank, paring the weekly gain in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, after House Republican leaders canceled a vote on higher taxes for top earners, sending budget talks deeper into turmoil. “With such a staunch group in the House, it looks as if the odds of going into 2013 without a deal have increased,” Kevin Caron, a Florham Park, New Jersey-based market strategist at Stifel Nicolaus & Co., said. “I don’t know whether we’re going to reach a deal, when we’re going to reach a deal, if there’s going to be a deal. It’s just a complete wild card at this point.”

The Northern Currency Headed North (CNBC)
With volatility so low in the foreign exchange markets, how is an investor supposed to find a currency with real direction? Look north. That’s the view of Camilla Sutton, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank. In her forecast for 2013, Sutton told clients that several factors will likely combine to push the Canadian dollar higher against the U.S. dollar. Canada wins on the political front, she says. “U.S. politics, particularly when it comes to issues such as fiscal planning and the debt ceiling, are likely to position Canada more favorably from a currency perspective.”

Gold, Silver and Oil Markets Hope for Better Year (MarketWatch)
As the year draws to a close, oil is poised for a sizable loss, gold readies for its smallest annual gain since 2008 and commodity traders look forward to a potentially better new year. “The commodity complex had a fairly lackluster performance in 2012,” said Elliott Orsillo, co-founder and portfolio manager at Season Investments LLC.