Foot-and-Mouth…True or False?

  • March 30, 2001
  • Marc Dupee

Marc Dupee will be out of the
office until April 9. In his absence this column is being written by
TradersWire’s Duke Heberlein.

A foot-and-mouth-disease scare in North Carolina sent pork
bellies
(
PBK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) into rally mode out of a pullback from contract highs.
Although the worry proved to be false when tissue samples were discovered to be
negative, the contract still managed to close in the top portion of its range,
up 1.450 at 94.350. Lean hogs
(
LHJ1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose in sympathy, gaining.600
to 64.475. The news of the scare being false drove live cattle
(
LCJ1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to limit down levels. The contract regained some of the losses, but
still finished in the red, down .475 at 78.350. Feeder cattle
(
FCK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
dropped 1.025 to 86.85 heading into the weekend.

Stock index futures ended Q1 on a positve note, with the Dow
futures
(
DJM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gaining 98 to 9965, the Nasdaq 100 futures
(
NDM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) were 8 points higher at 1588 heading into Sunday night’s Globex
trading, and the S&P futures
(
SPM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) climbed 11.50 to close the
quarter at 1173.

Treasuries are keeping close eye on the University of
Michigan consumer sentiment report for March, for clues into the level of
consumer confidence. A level of confidence higher than anticipated could
pressure bonds even further. Awaiting the news T-bonds
(
USM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained
^09 to 104^06 and 10-year notes
(
TYM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose ^11 to 106^06.

Crude
oil
(
CLK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) traded in a choppy fashion before staging a slight bounce
off the $26 level, but still could not manage to close in the green, down .03 at
26.29. Heating oil
(
HOK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost .0005 to .7042, unleaded gasoline
(
HUK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) finished .0041 higher at .9176 and natural gas
(
NGK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
ended at 5.025 down .249.

May cotton
(
CTK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) futures
climbed to their highest level in three sessions due to what appears to be a
lack of sellers and thin buying based on a possible positive interpretation of a
USDA plantings report. The contract was unable to sustain whatever positive
momentum it had earlier in the day, as it closed at 45.09, down .60. Cocoa

(
CCK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) started to move out of a cup and handle pattern atop its
converging 20- and 50-day moving averages, gaining 9 to 1073. May sugar
(
SBK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell on large volume. Analysts are projecting shrinking world demand
and financial market woes world wide could continue to mount downside pressure
on the contract. SBK1 finished down .63 at 7.75. Orange juice
(
OJK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
gave back .85 to end at 75.15 and coffee
(
KCK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) 

Corn
(
CK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) opened up sharply higher on news of
a larger than expected slash in expected 2001 overall acreage, but much like the
cotton contract was unable to hold on to its gains. The future lost 4 to 203
1/4, pulling down wheat
(
WK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) , which dropped 10 to 255, and soybeans
(
SK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), which fell 8 to 428 1/2. Soybean oil
(
BOK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) slipped .07
to 15.95 and soymeal
(
SMK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) completed the negative day for the grain
complex, falling 4.4 to 146.7.

Gold
(
GCM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) continued to head lower,
testing a key support level near $258 per ounce, before finishing down 1.20 at
259.20. Silver
(
SIH1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) continues to probe lower, sliding 4 to 429.5
and copper
(
HGH1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped 1.10
to 75.85.

Finally, Dollar index futures
(
DXM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
extended gains across the board against the rest of the major currencies, rising
.84 to 117.63. The Japanese yen’s 
(
JYM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) woes continued, as it
lost .0167 to end at .8008, Swiss francs
(
SFM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) are continuing to
loiter in a low-volatility setup and were down .0043, and the Canadian dollar
(
CDM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed at .6346, down .0012.
The British pound
(
BPM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped .0096 out of an outside day
in a pullback from low, ending at 1.4158 and euro FX futures
(
ECM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
were down .00360 to .8796.