No Boom In Bonds
Traders flying out of the stock index futures failed to
boost the bond market, as both T-bonds
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10-year notes
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had been setting up in. Profit warnings from Lucent Technologies
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and Ciena
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spurned the March contracts, allowing sellers to take hold.
Dow futures
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average for the first time in seven weeks, falling more than 100 points in the
session. Nasdaq 100 futures
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moving average and its upward trendline, while the
S&P futures
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average, reversing Wednesday’s bullish tail.
Dollar index futures
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the week, staging a reversal off the 50-day moving average. This move took the
British pound
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pullback since rallying off its lows.
Japanese yen
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extremely low levels, with the
Canadian dollar
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higher. Euro FX futures
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back to the gap that shot the contract higher one day ago. Rounding out the
group,
Swiss francs
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and appear to be headed for a retest of Monday’s low.
Energy futures traded in a choppy manner, as traders had
eyes on the news for any information to confirm or deny a production cut from
OPEC. Prices dropped on the release of a planned meeting by OPEC members for
Dec. 28, which would not give enough time to implement any cuts by the first
of the year. Crude oil
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downward, but slid off into the close. Unleaded gasoline
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continuing to chop around at low levels. Heating oil
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forming a narrow range at its contract lows, and
natural gas
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In the softs, cocoa
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positive, stalled out today in its rally out of a pullback from highs. Coffee
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recovering to finish in the green.
March cotton
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offset the losses of the past few days, triggering a move out of its pullback.
Lastly, orange juice
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pressure, forming a bearish tail down in Thursday’s trading.
Corn
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recovered in spite of not really building any real buying momentum. Transaction
activity was light and range-bound. Wheat
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trading thin and choppy. Soybeans
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news of a large U.S. sale of nearly 250,000 metric tons to an unknown foreign
buyer, and appears to have possibly formed a mini double bottom. Soybean oil
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was down slightly, but has been trading with broadening volatility over the past
six weeks and could be prepping for a run up in prices. Finally,
soy meal
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chart.
CME hogs rallied off the week’s lows, with
lean hogs
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double top, and pork bellies
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moving average, possibly offsetting the head-and-shoulders pattern it has been
tracing out. Live cattle
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the pit, as a least one major meat packer was distributing contracts in the
session. Feeder cattle
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well, in tandem with the live cattle contract.