What’s At A 19-Month High?

U.S. stocks slumped, driving the Nasdaq
Composite Index

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to its lowest level in six years. Microsoft
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led the decline after its chief executive officer Steven Ballmer
said he saw no sign of a sales rebound in Europe.

The Dec Nasdaq 100 futures
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traded negative all day long, attempting a move to the upside during the last
hour of trade, but failing and ending the day down 25.50 or 2.91%, at 850.

The S&P 500 futures for Dec.
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fell to a low level hitting the -1.0 Vol. band and tried a couple of times to
move higher, but failed and ended the choppy session at 834.20 down 8 points.

The energy markets got a boost
today when Crude oil rose to a 19- month high after Iraq refused to accept any
new United Nations resolutions on weapons inspections, raising the chances of a
U.S. attack on the number two supplier of oil from the Middle East. Technically,
crude oil broke out of an ascending triangle with increasing volume. Nov.
crude oil

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closed at $30.71 a barrel up .87. Oct. unleaded
gasoline

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rose 2.86 cents to .8438 a gallon. Oct. heating oil
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climbed 1.97 cents to .8057 a gallon; and Oct. natural gas
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rose 2.20 to 3.978.

In the grains, profit takers
ruled the market today with wheat being the biggest loser. Dec. wheat
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dropped 11 cents to end the session at $3.89 a bushel down 2.75%.
Nov. soybeans

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was the next big loser, dropping 1.64% or 9 1/4 cents
to $5.53 1/4 a bushel. Dec. corn lost 4 1/2 cents or 1.74% to close at $2.54 1/4
a bushel.

The metals were mixed today,
with Dec. gold
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moving up .90 to $324.10 an ounce. Dec. silver
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lost .20 to $4.648 an ounce while Dec. copper
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dropped .50, to close at 67.75 a pound.