What The Warmer Forecast May Mean For Natural Gas
The recent one way nature of
the markets, dictated by general
risk-aversion, appeared to take a breather today, as most markets traded on
secular factors and not war concerns.
The commodity currencies were lower amid a softer outlook for commodity demand.
Equities staged a mid-day reversal, finishing up for the day. And energy futures
were mixed.
Equities
The Equity futures finished higher after a
mid-day technical rally managed to hold up until the close. The S&P futures
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points to finish at 7555 and the Nasdaq
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972.50.
Fixed Income
With the exception of the long bond, treasuries
finished slightly lower due to a lack of negative economic or geo-political
news. The 10-year contract
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Metals
Copper prices
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75.7, as larger-than-expected mining production led the market to expect excess
supply . Silver prices were undoubtedly affected by the copper
concerns; the April silver contract finished
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Gold finished lower for a second day on a row. Gold
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4.0 at 346.6.
Energy
The natural gas April contract
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continued its decline, as warmer temperatures will alleviate tight demand for
the commodity. The April natural gas contract finished lower by .079 at 5.865.
Crude oil, on the other hand, popped higher after an Energy Department report
showed an unexpected decline in US inventories. The April contract
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closed higher by 1.11 at 37.83.
Currencies
Overall, the US dollar finished higher against
the major currencies; the USD index
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The US dollar finished slightly higher against the Swiss franc, European euro
and Japanese yen. And it gained substantially against the commodity currencies,
such as the Australian and Canadian dollars–the economies of these two
countries are heavily dependant on commodity exports, which are currently seeing
a decline in demand.