The Case For Higher Oil Prices
Oil prices rallied higher Monday after a
tumultuous weekend in which Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned to power
two days after being deposed in an attempted coup.
Mr. Chavez’s comeback has rekindled concerns about supply from the Western
Hemisphere’s largest oil exporter, and Venezuela’s return to a more hawkish oil
policy of maintaining high oil prices by restricting production.
May crude oil
(
CLK2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) surged $1.10 higher or 4.69% to $24.57 per
barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in afternoon trading.
May unleaded gasoline
(
HUK2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) climbed 5.67 cents or 7.77% to 78.62
cents a gallon. May heating oil
(
HOK2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) climbed 3.29 cents or 5.4% to
settle at 63.34 cents a gallon and May natural gas
(
NGK2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose .31
cents to $3.43 per million British thermal units.
Treasury’s remained slightly higher Monday
afternoon as stock prices lost ground and investors remained cautious about
corporate earnings and global conflicts.
Bond investors were weighing in several factors, but none seemed to hold much
sway ahead of a speech Wednesday by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. For
the most part, it was proving to be a fairly quiet market for government bonds,
analysts said.
The benchmark June 10-year Treasury
(
TYM2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was up .20 or .19% point,
to 104.87. Its yield, which moves inversely to the price, fell to 5.127%. The
June 30-year Treasury
(
USM2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) added .34 to 101.31, yielding 5.656%.
Stocks closed lower Monday as earnings season shifted into high gear and
General Electric
(
GE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) shares again weighed on the Dow industrial average.
The June Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
(
DJM2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) finished down
104.00 or 1.02% to 10090.
In today’s trade the June S&P 500
(
SPM2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
futures fell to an intraday low of 11,000, just above its S2 Pivot Point of
1099.53. The S&P’s rallied from the lows, but closed negative at 1104 down 8,
creating a 20-day low and a possible
Turtle Soup Plus One Buy Setup.
The June Nasdaq 100
(
NDM2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was
fighting all day back and forth between positive and negative readings. When the
session ended the June Nasdaq 100 was positive closing at 136.00 up 8.00.
In the precious metals, June gold
(
GCM2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
lost its luster and closed just above its support at $300.00 and ounce. Take a
look at
Dave Landry’s Futures Trading Outlook. Gold appears to be in a cup and
handle pattern with a resistance of $305 an ounce.
May silver
(
SIK2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) sold off big with a
loss of 14.30 or 3.11% to end at 4.45. May copper lost .10 to end the session at
71.60.
The grains were mixed today with May soybeans
(
SK2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) falling 4 1/2 cents to $4.56 1/2. May corn
(
CK2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained
13/4 to $1.96 a bushel. And May wheat
(
WK2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped 3/4 to $2.71 3/4.
Â
Â