What Moves In Natural Gas May Mean For The Chemical Companies
Rosier earnings news sent
bonds lower and equities higher while
less geopolitical uncertainty sent gold lower.
Equities
US stocks advanced after financial companies
including Citigroup reported quarterly profits that beat the Street’s
expectations. The S&P
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and the Dow
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up 17.50 to close at 1046.00.
Fixed Income
US Treasuries fell, pushing
two-year note yields to the highest in three weeks, as some investors speculated
faster growth will keep the FED from cutting interest rates. The May Fed Funds
Future is now only pricing in a 16 % chance of a cut–down from a 68% chance two
weeks ago. The 10 year contract
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was down 0-110, closing at 113-250; the 30 year
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closing at 111-05; and the five year note finished
down 0-090 to close at 112-215
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Metals
Gold fell for the first time in a week because
rising stock prices diminished the metal’s appeal as a haven investment.
Geopolitical developments over the weekend, such as what appears to be North
Korea’s softening of its nuclear demands, also weighed on the precious metal.
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finished lower by $3.60 to close at 324.90, and silver
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The base metals were higher slightly lower today, after Friday’s jump on the
back of a better-than-expected auto sales component of the retail sales number.
Copper was down .10 to finish at 72.45
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Energy
Crude rose for a second straight day on
speculation OPEC may cut production to offset a return of Iraqi oil supplies.
The May delivery was up .44 to close at 28.58
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were up almost to their highest prices in almost a month amid concern that
supplies in storage, already down 55% from a year ago, may drop for a second
straight week. Futures were up .129 and closed at 5.540
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March 3 column, from an equity point of view, this should
bode well for companies such as DuPont and PPG relative to Dow Chemical, since
Dow relies to a large extent on natural gas for production.
Currencies
The US dollar finished was little moved today but
finished lower against the other major currencies. The USD index
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down .25 today and
finished at 100.31.