A Lesson In Supply And Demand
It was Economics 101 today in the
energies, a
classic supply and demand story. Crude-oil prices fell on the NYMEX when
inventory reports were released. The reports stated that there was a larger-than-expected inventory
of US gasoline. This, coupled with a fall in demand at the
start of the peak summer-driving season, showed clearly that there was not enough
demand for the supply.
July crude oil
(
CLN2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell 1.06 or
4.11% to $24.69 a barrel. July heating oil
(
HON2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped 3.10 cents
or 4.70% to 62.79 cents a barrel and July unleaded gasoline
(
HUN2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
closed at 73.85 cents a gallon, down 3.81 cents or 4.92%.
The natural gas market avoided a potentially damaging drop
in price after an erroneous press release misstated weekly supply data, just as
the market was temporarily closed. July natural gas
(
NGN2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell .28
or 7.1%, to 3.22.
For the tenth straight trading session, volume
was below average in the broader markets. This also showed up in the broader
market index futures. The Nasdaq 100 is being hampered by the semiconductor
sector being down again today. But the June Nasdaq 100
(
NDM2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) staged a
late-day rally and closed positive at 1230 up 11.50. The June S&P 500 did not
fare as well, losing 2.00 to end at 1065.79.
The metals were mixed on the day, with the star
of the week gold giving up just a small portion of its gains. August gold
(
GCM2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) traded in a range between 325 and 328, before settling at $326.70 an
ounce. July silver
(
SIN2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), often influenced by
gold, stood on its own today, rising 4.00 or .81%. July copper
(
HGN2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
rose .10 to 75.20 a pound.
July Corn futures
(
CN2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) nudged higher
on the Chicago Board of Trade. This was due to positive developments for US exports. July wheat
(
WN2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) prices edged up slighty, moving to 2.76 1/2
up .25. July soybeans
(
SN2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) eked out a slight gain of
5, up 1.01%.