What’s Deterring Traders Now

  • November 11, 2002
  • Paul Letourneau

Concern that the U.S. may go to war with Iraq
also deterred some investors. Iraq may be unable to meet United Nations demands
that it eliminate any weapons of mass destruction, the chairman of Iraq’s
parliament said. This caused crude oil to lift up from its support levels of
around $25.00 a barrel. Dec. crude oil
(
CLZ2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose .17 to 25.95.
Dec. heating oil
(
HOZ2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost .08 to 68.79 a gallon. Dec. unleaded
gasoline
(
HUZ2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped .28 of a cent to .71 cents a gallon and Dec.
natural gas
(
NGZ2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped to a five-week low to 3.77 down .12. The
recent drop in natural gas is due to bloated prices.

Due to the Veterans day holiday, the Treasury markets were closed.
This often results in a choppy market for the equities and
today was no exception. The Standard & Poor’s 500 futures for Dec.
(
SPZ2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped below the 20-day moving average to close at 877.79 down
13.59 or 1.53%. The Dec. Nasdaq 100
(
NDZ2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was clinging to the
20-day moving average at 980 as it lost 29 points or 2.87%. NDZ2 closed at
980.00.

At the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the grains gained some ground today.
Dec. wheat
(
WZ2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) added .01 cent to $3.83 1/2 a bushel. Soybeans for
Jan.
(
SF3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rallied 9 3/4 cents or 1 3/4% to $5.68 1/4 a bushel. Dec.
soymeal
(
SMZ2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose 1.10 to 164.59 and Dec. corn
(
CZ2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was
unchanged at $2.35 3/4 a bushel.

In the metals, gold lost, but silver and copper
rallied. Dec. gold
(
GCZ2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped .20 cents to $321.60 a troy ounce.
Dec. silver
(
SIZ2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rallied to $4.572 an ounce, an increase of 4.29
cents. Dec copper
(
HGZ2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) added .55 to close at 72.09 a pound.