Despite a positive report on German business sentiment, concerns about the US economy and banking sector troubles weighed on investor confidence on Wednesday. Stocks and the dollar remained under pressure, but interest in commodities like oil, gold, and industrial metals increased due to a weakening greenback. Deutsche Bank's warning about potential credit market issues affecting profits and a drop in US consumer confidence to a five-year low in March kept investors cautious. Additionally, new data showed a unexpected 1.7 percent decrease in new orders for long-lasting US manufactured goods in February, adding to worries about the world's largest economy. As a result, Wall Street was expected to open lower with major stock index futures all in the negative. Sean Maloney, a fixed-income strategist at Nomura in London, stated that there is still nervousness in the banking sector, and the recent announcement from Deutsche Bank was a reminder that JPMorgan's increased bid for Bear Stearns may not resolve all the issues in the financial sector. The news earlier this week about JPMorgan raising its takeover offer for Bear Stearns by fivefold led to a surge in financial stocks worldwide and alleviated concerns about a sector impacted by a credit crunch. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares declined by 0.9 percent, while Germany's DAX dropped by 0.7 percent, with Deutsche Bank falling by about 2 percent. London's FTSE 100 index decreased by 0.7 percent, mainly due to a nearly 7 percent drop in Swiss miner Xtrata following the breakdown of takeover talks with Vale, the world's largest iron ore miner. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei ended down by 0.3 percent, but MSCI's measure of other Asian stock markets rose by 0.7 percent. MSCI's primary global equity index slightly increased by 0.2 percent. The dollar weakened against major currencies, with the dollar index dropping by 0.8 percent due to concerns about the US economy. On the other hand, positive data on the German business climate index rising to 104.8 from 104.1 in February, based on a survey of approximately 7,000 companies, helped boost the euro. The euro climbed by about 0.7 percent to $1.5736, supported further by remarks from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, which were seen as suggesting no immediate interest rate cuts. Trichet stated during a testimony to the economic committee of the European Parliament that the ECB believed the current monetary policy would aid in achieving price stability in the medium term. In the commodities market, US light crude for May delivery increased by $1.25 to $102.47, while the price of gold rose to $947.70 per ounce from around $934.60 per ounce in New York on Tuesday. Copper for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange was last traded at $8,155 per tonne, showing a 0.8 percent increase. Despite a pessimistic US economic outlook, global demand for various commodities is expected to remain strong, driven by robust economies like China. Shuji Sugata, a manager at Mitsubishi Corp Futures and Securities Ltd in Tokyo, mentioned that the weakening dollar has led to increased buying, but traders are cautious about taking large positions as the quarter comes to an end. Concerns about the US economy have also boosted demand for safe-haven U.S. Treasuries, with the benchmark 10-year yield dropping approximately 5 basis points to 3.457 percent. German 10-year bonds did not perform as well as US bonds, which was influenced by Trichet's remarks and new bond issuance. The 10-year yield remained relatively stable at 3.887 percent.