a subdued emotional quality underlying an utterance; implicit meaning
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a pale or subdued color
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Undertone \Un"der*tone`\, n. A low or subdued tone or utterance; a tone less loud than usual.
For distillates, the API reported that inventories increased 1.3 million barrels last week to 141.4 million. That was in line with expectations but could add to the oil market's bearish undertone.
A steadier undertone prevailed on the LME.
There are wines from some 40 countries on offer, from China to Chile, Austria to Australia. Despite a tradition of courtesy in the wine world, there is no doubt about the undertone of cut-throat competition for a shrinking market.
Melanie Griffith is sexy and unsettling, Judy Holliday with a shadowy undertone.
Although some profit-taking set in during the late afternoon to topple the index from midafternoon intraday peaks, good demand for stock-index futures contracts and a buoyant early effort on Wall Street left the market with a firm undertone, dealers said.
Analysts said the sharp rise in prices took them by surprise, given the bearish undertone in the market in recent days as investors nervously awaited OPEC's mid-year meeting.
"There's an undertone of caution beginning to emerge" in the stock market, says James C. Moltz, chairman of Cyrus J. Lawrence Inc. in New York.
But with all the praise, there was an undertone of misgiving.
Invariably, he says, "the producers will win because they control the supply of silver." Energy Oil markets retain a bearish undertone because of weak supply-demand fundamentals.
He noted that statistics just released by the American Bureau of Metal Statistics, a private organization, were largely bullish, but contain a bearish undertone.
While the government's low borrowing needs have helped provide a firm undertone for the market, worries about the economy have blocked gains.
Despite the fragility of the economy and corporate sector, traders insist the equity market has a positive undertone, given the amount of available institutional liquidity and the market's relative cheapness.