If It’s Raining In Brazil…

• January 18, 2002
• Paul Letourneau

U.S. stocks dropped off today, driving the Nasdaq Composite Index
(
$COMPQ |
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PowerRating) to its biggest weekly drop since September. The decline was
fueled by disappointing sales reports from Microsoft
(
MSFT |
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(
IBM |
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PowerRating). The news from these two giants made investors feel that a
recovery in the U.S. economy is not quite here yet.

The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
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PowerRating) dropped 55.47, or 2.8%, to 1930.35.
Its 4.6% drop for the week was the biggest since the week trading resumed
after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The S&P 500
(
$SPX |
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1127.58. Chipmakers, including Intel
(
INTC |
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computer companies to lead the decline. For the week, the S&P 500 lost 1.6%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU |
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PowerRating) fell 78.19, or 0.8%, to 9771.85 today and slid 2.2% this week.

Stocks rallied from Sept. 21 through the end of last year on expectations the
economy would emerge from recession, boosting corporate profits possibly as soon as the
first half of this year. Those gains have been eroded in the past two weeks as
technology companies in particular have failed to show evidence of a rebound.

BROADER MARKET INDEX
FUTURES

March S&P 500 futures

(
SPH2 |
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PowerRating) fell below their S1 level (91130.47), closing at 1129.10, down
5.10. The March Dow Jones futures
(
DJH2 |
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PowerRating) dropped 37.0 to 9772.0,
while the March Nasdaq index
(
NDH2 |
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settled just above its S2 level (1552.67) to end at 1554.50.

FINANCIALS

Treasury prices closed higher Friday despite a report
showing surprisingly strong consumer-confidence data, as investors chose instead
to focus on a drop in stock prices.
The March 30-Year T-Bond
(
USH2 |
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10-Year T-Note
(
TYH2 |
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T-Note
(
FVH2 |
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PowerRating) rose .28 to end at 106.766.

CURRENCIES

The March US dollar index
(
DXH2 |
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PowerRating)
closed at 117.86, down .33. The March British pound
(
BPH2 |
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gained .22 to 143.34.The March Japanese yen
(
JYH2 |
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today, losing .000013 to end at .007561. The March Swiss franc

(
SFH2 |
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PowerRating) gained .23 to end at 60.26. The March Australian dollar

(
ADH2 |
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(
ECO2H |
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PowerRating) lost .00330 to end at .88250.

PRECIOUS METALS

Precious metals settled lower Fridayface=Arial color=#000000 size=2>. Feb gold
(
GCG2 |
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PowerRating) lost 1.3 to end at
283.4. March silver
(
SIH2 |
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PowerRating) fell .100 to 4.345. March high grade
copper
(
HGH2 |
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PowerRating) lost .0095 to end at .6985, and April platinum

(
PLJ2 |
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PowerRating) lost 2.6 to end at 480.30.

GRAINS

Soybean futures tumbled Friday midday on the
Chicago Board of Trade. The drop was caused by wet-weather forecasts for
South America when meteorologists called for more rainfall than previously expected over the coming days in prime
growing areas of Brazil and Argentina. size=2>March soybeans
(
SH2 |
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PowerRating) fell 5.25 to 445.50. face=Arial size=2>Weakness in the soymeal market also contributed to the
decline. March soybean meal

(
SMH2 |
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PowerRating) dropped 4.1 to end at 157.7. March soybean oil

(
BOH2 |
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PowerRating) gained .4 to 15.56.

Wheat also
slipped because of low export demand. size=2>March wheat
(
WH2 |
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PowerRating) lost 2.75 to close at 298. March corn

(
CH2 |
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(
OH2 |
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closed down .25 to 192. Trading in agricultural
commodities was choppy and cautious ahead of the three-day holiday
weekend.

SOFTS

Lumber was the only bright spot in the
futures today. March cotton #2 [CTH2|CTH2] closed at 37.45, down .51. March
orange juice [JOH2|JOH2] lost .70 to end at 87.20. March coffee

(
KCH2 |
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PowerRating) dropped 1.45 to 47.40. March cocoa
(
CCH2 |
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to 1286. March sugar #11
(
SBH2 |
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(
LBH2 |
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MEATS

The Meats were mostly higher today. Feb
live cattle
(
LCG2 |
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PowerRating) rose .475 to close at 71.55. Feb live hogs

(
LHG2 |
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PowerRating) closed at 56.30, down .025. Feb pork bellies

(
PBG2 |
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(
FCH2 |
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PowerRating) closed higher by .325 to 83.875.

ENERGIES

In the crude oil, unleaded gas and heating oil
contracts, we are now watching the March contracts in addition to the February.
The March contracts now have more open interest then the Feb contracts. Feb
crude oil
(
CLG2 |
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PowerRating) finished at 18.00, up .03. Marchcolor=#000000 size=2> crude oil
(
CLH2 |
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PowerRating) closed at 18.66 up .03. Feb unleaded
gas
(
HUG2 |
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PowerRating) ended the day at 53.92, up .31. March unleaded gas
(
HUH2 |
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PowerRating) was
up .04 to 55.02. Feb Heating Oil
(
HOG2 |
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PowerRating) finished at 51.41, down
.04. March heating oil

(
HOH2 |
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PowerRating) at 51.66, down .14, and Feb natural gas
(
NGG2 |
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PowerRating) was
lower by .02 to 2.236.

Exchanges will be closed Monday for
the Martin Luther King holiday. Trading resumes Tuesday. Enjoy your weekend!