What’s Supporting The Rally
After June gold
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support line of 300.00 yesterday, June gold came back with a vengeance today and
was the brightest spot in a dull lackluster trading day. The contract for
June gold rallied 3.29 or 1.10% to end at $302.80 an ounce. June gold is trading
in a cup and handle pattern, with 305.00 as the resistance level. A break and
close above the 305.00 level could signal a continued rally. Other metals were
positive as well today. May silver
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to $4.45 an ounce. And May copper
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1.45% to 73.65 cents a pound.
Crude-oil prices surged Wednesday as
surprising supply data, continued Middle East turmoil and fallout from the
Venezuelan political crisis all supported the rally in progress.
In addition, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress Wednesday
that inflation pressures, despite surging oil prices, are well-contained and
that prospects for the U.S. economy have brightened. He also emphasized that the
central bank is in no rush to raise interest rates.
June crude-oil futures
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$26.05 a barrel in trading at the New York Mercantile Exchange. June unleaded
gasoline
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heating oil
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and June natural gas
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British Thermal Units.
Late Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute reported that crude stocks fell
by an unexpectedly large 7.315 million barrels to 318.936 million barrels in the
week ended April 12. Early Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Energy reported
that crude stocks fell by a similar 5.6 million barrels.
Losses widened on Wall Street Wednesday
afternoon as a mixed bag of earnings news left investors with little incentive
to extend the previous session’s rally. All in all the market was very dull.
In late-afternoon trading, the June Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
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The June Nasdaq 100 pulled back 5.00 to
1430.00.
The June Standard & Poor’s 500
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area is the key 50% retracement level.
Treasury prices mostly fell Wednesday after
Alan Greenspan signaled the central bank will move slowly in raising interest
rates. The two-year note posted the only gains and the dollar was weaker.
The grains traded positive today. May wheat
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or .55% to $2.76 1/2 a bushel. May corn
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1.01% to close at 1.99 3/44. And soybeans for July
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strong performance today. Beans for July closed at $4 3/4 up 8 1/4 cents
or1.77%.
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