Why The Triple Witch Failed To Spook The Market

The Sept. Triple Witch has come and gone
and has left behind a day filled with choppiness and big volume, and surprisingly,
a positive end of the day. The Dec. S&P 500 was positive at the outset,
but came under pressure throughout the session. SPZ2 made a high at 884.00
before pulling back to close at 841.79, up .10

This morning Texas Instruments
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was downgraded by Solomon Smith Barney, and it looked like this would wear hard
on other tech issues and hurt the Nasdaq 100 futures for Dec.
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. The
Nasdaq 100 was able to stay up throughout the day and end positive at 875.50, up
3.00.

The Treasuries rose along with the choppy equity
trade. the Dec. 10-year note
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rose .10 to end at 114.68. The
Dec. 30-year bond

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closed at 113.06, up 1.81, or 1.63%.

In the energies today, Nov. crude oil
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broke through to penetrate the very important $30.00 a barrel level,
reaching a high of 30.14 before pulling back to close at $29.82 a barrel, an
increase of .09 cents. Crude remains in a tight range between 29.40 and 30.00.
Oct. unleaded gasoline
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closed up 1.21 cents, or 1.52%, to 81.29
gallon. Heating oil for Oct.
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lost .01 of a cent to close at
78.79 a gallon, and Oct. natural gas
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gave up .09 cent to close
at 3.75.

Grains were mixed at the Chicago Board of Trade
(CBOT). Dec. wheat
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pulled back to test the 20-day moving
average at 3.91, then and bounced up to close at $4.00 a bushel, a rise of 4 1/2
cents, or 1.14%. Dec. corn
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broke below the 50-day moving average
at 2.66 and hit a one-month low in today’s trade. Corn closed down 6 cents, or 2.25%,
to $2.60 3/4. Nov. soybeans
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stayed above support at 5.60 to
close at 5.64 1/2, up 1/2.

In the metals, Dec. gold
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dropped
off .60 to close at $323.19 an ounce. Dec. silver
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dropped 1
cent to close at $4.65 an ounce; and Dec. copper
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added.50 to
close at 68.25 a pound.