What’s Driving Individual Stocks

January 7, 2002
Paul Letourneau

U.S. stocks fell for the first time in four days
as investors said profits may not rebound soon enough to justify the rally of
the past 3 1/2 months. No specific corporate or economic news is driving the
sell-off. On the contrary, a lot of encouraging corporate news is driving
individual stocks.

BROADER MARKET INDEX FUTURES

FINANCIALS

CURRENCIES

PRECIOUS METALS

On Feb Gold
(
GCG2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), the
100-day moving average is still acting as upside resistance near 280.00. We do
need to mention that gold has been quite resilient, as physical buying is
present on dips, but more importantly, the buying seems to disappear above
280.00, leaving no driving force. March Gold closed up 2
to 279.1. March Silver
(
SIH2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed
down slightly by .007 to 4.6660. Silver is entrenched in an upside move based on
tightness in the spot market. Resistance lies at 4.65 and 4.72, which is where
sellers may attempt short positions with defined stops in place. March
High Grade Copper
(
HGH2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost .0020 to end at .7130. Chinese
buying overwhelmed the copper market on Monday, taking the March contract
through all technical levels of resistance below 70 cents. And April Platinum
(
PLJ2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
closed up 1.00 to 473.30.

GRAINS

March Wheat
(
WH2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped
from its Friday gains. Today wheat lost 2.25 to close at 211.50. Corn
futures closed higher at the Chicago Board of Trade on Monday, pulled up by
gains in soybeans as traders in that market reacted to concerns about South
American dry weather. Corn settled the session up 1 to 2 cents per bushel with
the most active March contract
(
CH2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
up 1 cent at $211.50 after touching a
two-week high of $2.13 at midday. With little
fresh news, corn spent the day following soybean futures, which were up more
than 2% at one point after weather forecasters said an area of dryness in South
America may expand this week, leaving traders concerned about the impact on
soybean yields. March
Soybeans
(
SH2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained 6.25 to 430.75. March Soybean Meal
(
SMH2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) added.1
to end at 143.7, and March Soybean Oil
(
BOH2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was up .33
to 16.35. March Oats
(
OH2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost 1.12 to close at 208.50.

SOFTS

The
Frozen Orange Juice market closed lower today as it entered a downside gap that
extends to 85.55 basis March. Prices have fallen over 7 cents in the last two
weeks after they failed to break above the November 2001 high of 97.70. The
market continues to trade on technicals, however, weather in the Florida
citrus-growing regions may become a factor. Temperatures have been close to
freezing in the last week and the cold is expected to return tonight and Tuesday
night. No damage is anticipated, as temperatures need to remain around 28-29
degrees Fahrenheit for a few hours, and temperatures are expected to warm up as
we get to the middle of the week. This market is oversold and is due for a
correction. Support for March is 88.00. Resistance is at 90.00. March
Orange Juice
(
JOH2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was lower at 89.00.

Arabica coffee futures on the Coffee, Sugar &
Cocoa Exchange settled mixed Monday, after the nearby positions surrendered all
of their early gains on some late hedging and speculative long liquidation,
participants said. After managing to post some gains in the early part of the
session mostly on what appeared to be continued fund buying interest and a
series of buy stops, the market virtually gave it all back in the last 15
minutes of the session. March
Coffee
(
KCH2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost .30 to close at 48.25.

The Cocoa market continued to
move higher today on follow-through from Friday’s rally, a
session in which the March contract closed 92 points higher. Local, speculative,
and fund buying has supported the market in the last two sessions. Stops were
hit today above 14.00. Prices have not traded at these levels since January
1999. March Cocoa
(
CCH2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained 25 to 1411.

Trade and speculative buying
supported the Sugar market after an early dip in the session. Prices were able
to hold support of 7.50 basis March. March Sugar #11
(
SBH2 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rallied
.07 to 7.71. Support for March Sugar is at 7.50. Resistance is at 7.80-7.85.

MEATS

ENERGIES

What’s Driving Individual Stocks

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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