Oil Weapon

Oil futures and their derivative products rallied more
than 4% as tensions remained high in Israel over issues of Palestinian autonomy
and the designation of Jerusalem as its capital. Cold weather in much of the
country also heightened concerns that low national stockpiles of oil products
will keep the pressure on in the energies. 

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud told an
Arab newspaper that it would be “unwise” to “imagine that anyone
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, or in the whole Arab world will remain still”
if the Israel government escalates violence that has taken as many as 90 lives.
The situation is reminiscent of the events leading up to the 1973-74 oil embargo
where Saudi Arabia and other Arab states used oil as a political weapon and
halted exports to the US. 

Crude oil
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rose 1.32 to 33.18, heating oil
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 gained .0422 to .9971 and
unleaded gasoline
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gained .0450 to .9141.

 

Stock index futures took it on the chin after warnings on key chip stocks
threw the semiconductor index
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for a 10% loss and weighed heavily on
the broad market.
NASDAQ 100 futures
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tanked triple digits, falling over 100 points in
the final 30 minutes of trading ahead of more negative earnings reports
announced after Tuesday’s close. NDZ0 fell 189.50 to 3160.00. 

Dow futures
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capitulated after flirting with
positive territory for some of the session on strong oil and consumer stocks for
a 110.0 down close to 10,570.
September S&P futures
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sank 25.50 to 1390.50. 

The
Japanese yen
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 gapped higher and continued rallying on a solid
machinery orders report. The report follows a rosier Tankan index survey, which
shows Japanese executives are more optimistic about the business outlook. The
December contract rose .0093 to .9395.

 

From the Momentum-5
List
, December wheat
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 surged to a three-month high, rallying 8
to 275 1/4. Wheat set up in a cup-and-handles patterns and provided ample
opportunity for a long entry out of a Pullback From
High
setup.