Seeking To Protect Their Wealth
Today on the New York Mercantile Exchange,
nearby May crude oil futures climbed more than $1 to set a high of $28.10 a
barrel, the highest level for a front-month contract since Sept. 18. The gain
followed a 57-cent jump on Monday.
Crude-oil futures soared above $28 a barrel today
for the first time since September amid mounting worries that the heated
tensions in Israeli-Palestinian violence could destabilize supplies out of the
Middle East. Crude oil ended up .83 to $27.71 a barrel.
Elsewhere, May unleaded gasoline
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cents a gallon and May heating oil
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to 70.95 cents a gallon.
June gold
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ounce resistance level. Two reasons that has helped gold move above the $300.00
an ounce level are the Middle East tensions and Japan. Gold has been a major
beneficiary of portfolio diversification by Japanese investors worried about
their economy and seeking to protect their wealth. Today June gold rallied to
close at $307.00 an ounce up 2.80. Gold now has initial support at 305.00 and
secondary support at 300.00.
Today in the Bond market, longer and shorter
Treasury’s moved in opposite directions for a while, as investors weighed
debt-supply pressures and new data showing unexpected weakness in factory
orders.
Early in the session, bond prices tipped lower amid some selling related to
upcoming non-government bond deals, and modest concerns over steadily rising oil
prices. But the losses in the shorter end of the market were reversed after data
showed an unexpected drop in February factory orders. The June 30 year bond
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Stocks closed lower Tuesday, weighed down by
some gloomy earnings news and worries about possible oil-supply disruptions in
the Middle East.
The June Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
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points to end at 10313.000.
But the tech-heavy June Nasdaq 100 futures
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the day’s selling, dropping 69.000, or 4.65%, to 1414.500, its lowest close
since March 1.
The June S& P 500 futures
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