Bulls Dominate Energies And Yen
Oil futures contracts continued a string of rallies to new highs and the yen shrugged off the Japanese government’s recent intervention in Forex markets to rally to another three-year high.
Low-than-expected inventories and word of solidarity among OPEC oil ministers to keep production quotas in place despite the prospect of $25 a barrel crude oil boosted oil futures to new records. (Oil and gasoline futures filled the top three positions on today’s Momentum-5 List). October crude [CLV9>CLV9] climbed .66 to 24.21, unleaded gas [HUV9>HUV9] rose .0036 to .6968 and heating oil [HOV9>HOV9] rose .0017 to .6220. Natural gas [NGV9>NGV9] fell back .020 to 2.781.
Traders ignored the Bank of Japan’s attempt on Friday to halt the rise in the yen [JYZ9>JYZ9] when the central bank sold yen and bought dollars. The yen opened .0234 higher at .9549, its high of the day, then traded in a narrow range during the futures session, closing at .9521. December dollar index futures [DXZ9>DXZ9] fell .67 to 99.93, Swiss francs [SFZ9>SFZ9] rose .0045 to .6558 and British pounds [BPZ9>BPZ9] fell .0102 to 1.6090.
T-bonds [USZ9>USZ9] traded within a narrow range after gapping down on the open, restrained by the weaker dollar. The December contract closed 11/32 lower at 113 20/32.
In stock index futures, Dow and S&P futures had a quiet day of trading: Dow futures [DJZ9>DJZ9] fell 5.0 to 11,145 and the S&Ps [SPZ9>SPZ9] fell 7.30 to 1362.30.
NASDAQ 100 futures [NDZ9>NDZ9] fell off their record highs to close 37.0 lower at 2528.50.
The medals fell back modestly: December silver [SIZ9>SIZ9] fell 4.3 to 518.2 and copper [HGZ9>HGZ9] dropped .70 to 82.15.
Despite its modest gain of .10 to 18.52, December soybean oil [BOZ9>BOZ9] provided leadership in the grains by hitting a new 50-day high and being the only contract to finish in the plus column. November soybeans [SX9>SX9] fell 5 1/2 to 510 1/4 and soymeal [SMZ9>SMZ9] fell 2.4 to 153.0. December corn [CZ9>CZ9], from the Implosion-5 List, fell 1 3/4 to 216, but four consecutive down days has taken the contract to recent lows, so watch for a reversal tomorrow around the 215 level, the previous 20-day low.
In the meats, October live cattle [LCV9>LCV9] reversed after hitting a new high to close .700 lower at 67.375. October feeder cattle [FCV9>FCV9] also fell .725 to 79.625. Lean hogs [LHV9>LHV9] and February pork bellies [PBG0>PBG0], both from the Implosion-5 List, ended slightly lower after trading up for most of the day.
Strength in the energy contracts has been overshadowing strength in some soft and fiber contracts. November orange juice [OJX9>OJX9] gapped open and hit an eighth-month high above 100 before settling up 1.55 at 97.00 on fear hurricane Floyd will damage the Florida citrus crop. December cotton [CTZ9>CTZ9] has rallied in seven of the past nine days. Cotton gapped open for its second straight day and finished just below its 20- and 50-day highs to close up .98 at 54.85. October sugar [SBV9>SBV9] came back from a weak start this morning to finish at the top of its range, up .09 at 6.79.
Although coffee [KCZ9>KCZ9] is on the Implosion-5 List, and hit a new low today, it closed at the top of its daily range, forming a short-term reversal “tail” and ended .45 higher at 85.80.
Special Reminder: Coming September 22, 1999. . .TRADEHARDNEWS.COM, the first and only price-action newswire in the world!