What May Relieve The Log Jam
A very lackluster day in the futures markets
produced decent returns. The Broader index futures all gained and ended
positive. Traders will be looking for signs of a breakout from today’s narrow range. Option expiration made help to relieve the log jam.
Tony Crescenzi on the Economy is a must-read today. Tony outlines
how April housing starts
can fool market-watchers — and how the Philadelphia Survey Report is positive.
The June Dow Jones
Industrial Average futures
(
DJM2 |
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PowerRating) closed at 10293 up 28. The tech-heavy
June Nasdaq 100 futures
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NDM2 |
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PowerRating) were depressed in earlier trade due
to the Biotechs, but rallied by the end of the session up 3 to 1323.50. The
June S&Ps
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PowerRating) added 4.59.
July wheat futures
got rocked today on the
Chicago Board of Trade, cleaning out the previous day’s big move to the upside.
Market-watchers said there was not enough fundamental strength in wheat to
sustain Wednesday’s significant advance. Despite continuing concerns about the
condition of the winter-wheat crop, analysts said the previous session’s rally
was overdone. Wheat for July delivery
(
WN2 |
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PowerRating) fell 6 3/4 cents to $2.76
3/4 a bushel. July corn
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CN2 |
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PowerRating) fell, the July contract fell 3 1/4
cents to $2.13 a bushel, as the market shrugged off stronger-than-expected
weekly export sales to focus on other concerns. July soybeans inched higher in
quiet trading despite export sales which exceeded expectations. July soybeans
rose 2 cents to $4.84 a bushel.
June
crude oil
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CLM2 |
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PowerRating) had been forming a cup-and-handle pattern on the daily
chart and broke out to move higher. Crude oil for delivery in June dropped .20
cents to $27.94 a barrel
in late-afternoon trading at the New York Mercantile Exchange. June unleaded
gasoline
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HUM2 |
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PowerRating) gained .71 to 79.53 cents a gallon. June
heating oil
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HOM2 |
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PowerRating) moved up to 68.15 cents a gallon, a .37 cent gain. June natural gas
(
NGM2 |
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PowerRating) was reduced by .03
cent to $3.60 per million BTUs.