The S&P GSCI Index of raw materials lost 0.4 percent as of 4:15 p.m. in New York and oil dropped 1 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose less than 0.1 percent to 1,371.09, while Exxon Mobil Corp. and Merck & Co. led the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) up 37.69 points to 12,959.71. Ten-year Treasury note yields added less than one basis point to 2.03 percent. The yen strengthened against 12 of its 16 most-traded peers. The euro climbed 0.3 percent to $1.3158.

 

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Oil fell to $106.27 a barrel. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

 

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March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg's Pimm Fox and Deborah Kostroun report on the performance of the U.S. equity market today. Most U.S. stocks retreated, capping the thinnest trading day in 2012, as investors weighed whether a Chinese slowdown will lead to an easing of monetary policy. (source: Bloomberg) (Source: Bloomberg)

 

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March 12 (Bloomberg) -- David Kotok, chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors Inc., talks about his investment strategy. He speaks with Trish Regan and Adam Johnson on Bloomberg Television's "Street Smart." Peter Kiernan, chief executive officer of Kiernan Ventures, also speaks. (Source: Bloomberg)

 

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March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Peter Kiernan, chief executive officer of Kiernan Ventures, talks about U.S. financial markets, tomorrow’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting and China’s economy. Kiernan, author of the book “Becoming China's Bitch: And Nine More Catastrophes We Must Avoid Right Now,” speaks with Trish Regan and Adam Johnson on Bloomberg Television's "Street Smart." (This is an excerpt of the full interview Source: Bloomberg)

 

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March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners LLC, talks about the outlook for U.S. stocks and the economy. Pavlik speaks on Bloomberg Television's "InBusiness With Margaret Brennan." (Source: Bloomberg)

 

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March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Jonathan Golub, chief U.S. market strategist at UBS Securities LLC, talks about outlook for U.S. markets, financials and oil prices. Golub speaks with Erik Schatzker, Stephanie Ruhle and Scarlet Fu on Bloomberg Television's "InsideTrack." (Source: Bloomberg)

 

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March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Kapoor, managing director of Re-Define, talks about the outlook for the European economy as the region’s finance ministers prepare to approve a second bailout package for Greece. He speaks with Mark Barton on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move." (Source: Bloomberg)

 

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March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Kathy Matsui, chief Japan equity strategist and co-head of Asia investment research at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in Tokyo, talks about the impact of the March 11 disaster on Japan's stock market and investor sentiment. Matsui speaks with Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move Asia." (Source: Bloomberg)

China weakened its daily fixing for the yuan by the most since August 2010 after reporting the biggest trade deficit in at least 22 years on March 10, sapping optimism that was spurred last week by stronger-than-forecast jobs data in the U.S. European finance ministers are meeting in Brussels today to complete the 130 billion-euro ($170 billion) aid package for Greece and discuss Spain’s budget-cutting efforts.

“Commodity market watchers have cautioned quite some time ago that ‘as goes China so do commodities,’” Jon Nadler, an analyst at Kitco Inc. in Montreal, wrote in a note today. “When combined with the data concerning that country’s factory output and consumer retail activity, the conclusion that China is indeed experiencing notable difficulties is obviously not very hard to draw.”

Oil Declines

Sixteen of 24 commodities tracked by the S&P GSCI index declined. Oil fell 1 percent to $106.34 a barrel, natural gas declined 2.4 percent to settle at a 10-year low of $2.269 per million British thermal units and copper dropped 0.5 percent to $3.8375 a pound.

Hedge funds last week reduced bets on higher commodity prices for the first time in almost two months after China cut its growth target, just as prices rallied on signs the U.S. economyis improving and Greece is containing its debt crisis.

Premier Wen Jiabao cut China’s economic growth target for 2012 to 7.5 percent, compared with the median estimate of economists for a 2.2 percent expansion in the U.S., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That would be the smallest gap since the Internet boom in 2000, the data show.

Money managers reduced combined bullish positions across 18 U.S. futu

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