Why Natural Gas Is Bucking The Trend In Energy

Yesterday’s move continued in
the oil and currency markets,
as oil
continued lower and the dollar moved higher. The equity, metal, and fixed
income markets, on the other hand, finished mixed, as some investors will need
more news about the Iraq situation to continue Thursday’s move.

Equities

The equity futures finished slightly higher today
after an abysmal reading in the Michigan Consumer Confidence number took the
momentum out of yesterday’s move, reminding investors not to get too ahead of
themselves. The Nasdaq March contract
(
DH3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was up 5.00 to finish at 1038;
the near month S&P futures
(
SPH3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
were up 1.8 to finish at 834.00; and the
Dow March contract
(
DJH3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
finished up 47 to finish at 7876.

Fixed Income

The treasuries took back a small portion of
yesterday’s losses after the poor Consumer Confidence numbers. The five-year
note finished up by 0-080 to close at 113-190
(
FVM3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
. The 10-year
contract
(
TYM3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
finished at 115-085, up 1-000. And the 30 year
(
USM3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)

finished at 114-06, up 0-12.

Metals

With the exception of aluminum and silver, the
metals all finished higher. Copper futures took back half of yesterday’s losses
and inched up by.25 to finish at 75.45
(
HGK03 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
.Gold was up a mere .60, to
finish at 336.6
(
GCJ3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
.

Energy

April crude oil continued yesterday’s move,
falling by 1.75% to close at 35.38
(
CL03J |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
. Conversely, natural gas market
was up 1.310% as the market realizes that supply constraints may continue to be
an issue. The April contract
(
FF03U |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
finished at 5.429.

Currencies

The US dollar again closed higher, as the USD
index
(
DX03H |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was up .44 to finish at 100.51. The greenback closed below
the critical 1.0764 level against the euro, signaling a weekly reversal.