Clinton Oils The Market
Sensing a crisis similar to that which is already
occurring across Europe, President Clinton said Tuesday that his administration
is working hard to make sure that “home heating reserves are filled for the
Northeast by the end of October.” The comments resulted in a sell-off in the
energy sector, but obvious doubt remains as to whether refiners will be able to
“crack” crude oil into heating oil fast enough make up for a supply
shortfall that stands 38% below levels from one year ago.Â
Heating oil
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high for the second consecutive day, before finishing down .0030 at 1.0468. An
update from the American Petroleum Institute after Tuesday’s close is expected
to show little change in the heating oil stockpiles situation. Crude
oil
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unleaded gasoline
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respectively.Â
Stock index futures ended a mixed review.
Dow futures
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turned into reality that JP Morgan would be bought out. JPM closed up 15 on word
that Chase would acquire the financial giant and sent the December contract
to a close 84.0 higher at 11,452.0.
NASDAQ 100 futures
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Qualcomm was insufficient to overcome declines in JDS Uniphase, SDL Inc, and
Oracle. September S&P futures
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Currency futures closed weakly, despite jawboning from a high-placed European
monetary official. One of the reasons traders have been selling the euro
with impunity down to all-time lows is a seeming lack of willingness by European
technocrats to defend the currency. Euro FX futures
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gaining as many as .00890 to fill the opening gap at Monday’s close in response
to European Central Bank President Wim Duisenberg’s comments that the drop in
the euro was “clearly a cause for concern.” He left the impression
that the ECB may intervene to defend the currency. Swiss francs
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rose as many as .0055 to .5697 early. Swiss francs’ positive close Monday tipped
the hand that euro-block
currencies could make a move higher Tuesday, a development mentioned in the Futures
Market Recap.Â
However, the ECB has never intervened
to support the euro, despite having beefed up exchange reserves to 100 billion
euros in recent months. Euro FX, Swiss francs, and British pounds
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all from the Implosion-5 List,
staged unconvincing rallies, traded in negative territory or, as in the case of
British pounds
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September copper
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the leading contract on the Momentum-5
List, rallied to a new contract high, adding 1.55 to 92.85.
Tropical rains have hit parched areas of Texas and the
Mississippi delta, improving a poor crop outlook for cotton, down .88 at 65.60.
December coffee
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posting a
New 10-Day High, continuing a multi-day move off a multi-year low to close
.85 higher at 83.90.
Finally in the meats,
October live cattle
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continued lower to make good on Pullback From Lows
setups.