What Broke Out Today
Crude oil and products
futures notched modest gains at the New York Mercantile Exchange, lifted by
short covering ahead of the weekend and thin volume.
The April crude oil contract
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cents to $21.07 a barrel. The March heating oil contract
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closed .33 lower at 54.61. March unleaded gasoline
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to 58.68.
Trading remained choppy amid the potential of U.S. military action against Iraq.
The market will be subject to sharp price jumps up on Iraq headlines while the
threat of military action remains a possibility, brokers said.
Analysts also said gains could be traced more to technical factors than to any
news driving the market. Barring fresh fundamental developments, oil prices are
expected to remain within their recent trading range.
Grain and soybean futures were mixed on the Chicago Board of Trade, as
the government’s weekly export sales reports came in mostly as expected. March
wheat
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U.S. exports. March wheat ended at 280.25 up 1.50.
March corn
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and weekly sales that came in slightly above expectations. March corn closed at
205.25 down 1.50. March soybeans
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2.75. The drop was because of recent crop-beneficial rains in Argentina.
April gold futures
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downward to test its 50% retracement line at 290.00. Gold started the session
with an early morning jump and then settled right at 293.500.
May coffee
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If coffee continues to move to the upside,
it will face strong resistance at the 53.30-53.50 cents area. The resistance
will be in two forms: the moving averages and the previous highs. The 150-day
moving average in May coffee was at 53.30 cents at the close Friday, and that
the contract made a high of 53.50 cents twice in January. If the market manages
to breach these two forms of resistance, it will face a similar hurdle above at
the high of November at 54.50 cents and wherever the 200-day moving average
stands at the time. At the close today, the 200-day moving average was at 55.90
cents.
The March S&P 500 futures
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formed an ascending triangle on a 10 minute intraday chart, then broke out at
2:30 PM EST and hit its R1 pivot before pulling back to end at 1091.700 down
12.700.
The March Nasdaq 100 futures
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closed higher at 1358.500 up 11.50.
The March Dow Jones futures
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broke out of an ascending triangle at 2:30 PM EST on its 10-minute intraday
chart and flirted with the 10,000 area before closing at 9990.000 up 165.000.