Unleaded, Unprecedented
Gasoline futures on the NY Mercantile exchange are
trading at their highest level since the contract began trading 17 years ago.
Gasoline futures represent wholesale prices and have been rallying due to the
perception that supplies — especially of cleaner-burning grades — will be in
short supply during the summer driving season that officially kicks off in June.
Cities such as Chicago and San Francisco have imposed regulations that require
drivers in the summer to burn less-polluting reformulated grades of unleaded
gasoline. The June contract
(
HUM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) has been
the leading contract on the Momentum-5
List for weeks and has been mentioned as a potential runaway contract in this
space and in Futures Market Recaps.
June crude oil
(
CLM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
and heating oil
(
HOM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)Â are also rallying. Natural gas
(
NGM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is decoupling from the energy complex and is now the leading contract on the Implosion-5 List.
Nat gas is down for the sixth consecutive day and tagged a four-month low.Â
A broad rally in big-cap techs is underpinning strength
in stock index futures. Many traders believe a bottom may be in. Strong gains in
the networking components — JDS Uniphase
(
JDSDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Cisco
(
CSCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and
Qualcomm
(
QCOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) — are working to leverage the
Nasdaq 100 futures
(
NDM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) up to a 100-point gain. Nasdaq futures
triggered a Pullback From Highs List
setup. S&P futures
(
SPM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and
Dow futures
(
DJM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), both from the Momentum-5
List, are higher and are making good on Off The Blocks
entries.Â
Soybeans
(
SK1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)Â are putting in a
bottoming bar and are up 8 at 430 3/4.
June lean hogs
(
LHM1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gapped down to a new 20-day low for the
second straight day. Weakness in this contract has been suggested by recent
New 10-Day Low and Implosion-5
lists readings.