The Markets Most Impacted By The News…
The big news today that moved
all of the markets was that Iraq has accepted the Security Council
resolution setting terms for unconditional weapons inspections and threatening
“serious consequences” for non-compliance. Iraq’s ambassador to the UN made the announcement.
From that point, markets either dropped or
rose, depending on how the news would affect them. The market that was probably
impacted the most was the energies.
Energy dropped in price across the board
on the news. Crude oil for December delivery
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25.00 support line before closing at $25.17 a barrel. This was a decline of .72
or 2.78%. Prices have dropped 16% since the end of September on reduced chances
of a US military attack on Iraq. The trading range has been
between $25.00 and $30.00. The drop in crude set the tone for other energies,
Dec. heating oil
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at 67.29 a gallon, a loss of 1.71 cents or 2.48%. Dec. unleaded
gasoline
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natural gas
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Another market that was
deeply impacted by the announcement out of Iraq was the metals. After rallying
up over $3.00 yesterday, Dec. gold
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troy ounce, loss of $5.70 or 1.76%. Dec. silver
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closed at $4.56 an ounce, down 4 1/2 cents.
In the copper market, two of the three unions
representing workers at Southern Peru Copper Corp.’s (PCU) Ilo complex plan to
meet late Wednesday to vote on whether to strike this week, a union official
said. If a strike were to occur, we could see a rally above the resistance line
of .72. Today Dec. copper
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71.75 cents a pound, down .35 of a cent.
It was a whipsaw trading session for the Dec. S&P 500
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formed a bearish rounding top pattern, which triggered a sell-off. Then during the
last hour of trade, the Dec. S&P rallied up to close just into positive territory
at 886.00, up 1.19.
The Dec. Nasdaq 100 futures
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followed a similar trading pattern as the S&Ps, but gained a little more
than the SPZ2 by the end of trading in the regular session. The NDZ2
closed at 1018, up 13.50 or 1.34%.
The Treasuries etched out
gains in today’s trade. The Dec. 10-year note
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gained .21 to end at 113.06.
At the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT)
the grains and beans recouped some of the losses that they had in the past
couple of sessions.
Dec wheat futures
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bushel. Jan. soybeans
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Dec. corn
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