Day One…Now For Day 2

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

Stock index futures staged the long-awaited rally off
severely oversold conditions, racking up massive point and percentage gains in
the front-month contracts ahead of tomorrow’s release of the March
unemployment report. Nasdaq 100 futures
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gained 9.79%, up
135 points at 1514.50 at the close. S&P futures
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posted
a gain of 42.50, or 3.82%, to 1155 and the Dow futures
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rose
392 points to 9980, up 4.09%.

The energies continued to steam higher after some
selling early on. Product issues and an apparent spill over from the equities’
good fortune boosted the complex higher. Crude
oil

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ended the day up .14 at 27.26, with natural gas

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being fueled by storage withdrawals, up .240 to 5.422. Heating
oil

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 closed higher by .0099 at .7365, and unleaded
gasoline

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ended trading up .0007, up to .9722.

The rally in the indices triggered a rough day in the bond market, as T-bonds

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were nailed down 10 ticks to finish at 103^20 and 10-year notes

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 lost the same to end the session at 105^29.

In the currency markets. the dollar index futures

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, appear to have stabilized, gaining  to and forming a bullish
outside day in a pullback and closing in the top quarter of its range.

With the U.S. dollar getting its legs, the British
pound

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fell by .0060 to 1.4266 and the euro FX futures

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slid in unison to .8970, a loss of .0058. Japanese yen
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gained despite news of Japan’s leading economic index falling 2.5 points,
gaining .0079 to .8132. Swiss francs
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were down .0036 to
.5899, and the Canadian dollar
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 fell
.0013 to close out at .6353.

Wheat
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looks as if it is stalling out
of a pullback off its lows, and for fundamental reasons could be retesting its
recent low, as export sales reportedly have dropped significantly from one
week ago. The contract was down 3/4 at 265.

Soybeans
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 headed lower after testing a key
resistance level, but managed to scratch and claw its way to a positive close,
up 1/4 at 437 1/2. Soymeal
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was also positive, gaining .60
to close at 153.90, while soybean oil
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could not keep step,
losing .0500 to fall to 15.59. May corn
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continued to pull
back from its recent low, closing slightly higher by 1/2 at 212 1/4.

With equities and the index futures soaring, gold
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gave back some value today, falling .30 to 259.10. In the rest of the group, silver

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gained 1.3 to finish at 435.3, and copper
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 was
up by .30 to 77.5

In the softs, cocoa

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continued its meltdown, dropping 5 to 995. The rest of the
group ended the day lower as well, with orange juice
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being
the biggest loser, down .65 to 73.50. May cotton
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 fell
.22 to 45.97,
May sugar
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lost .10 to close the
session at 8.05, and coffee
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 ended the day lower, down
.25 to 59.

Finally, the meats managed to end trading mixed, with lean
hogs

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adding on .80 to 67.025 and live cattle

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gaining .325 to 79.850. Feeder cattle
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dropped
.05 to 87.80 and pork bellies
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fell 1.30 to 93.775.

Talk
about it at TradingMarkets World