Why Treasuries And Equities Were Both Down
Gold and treasuries were the
big movers today while equities finished
mixed and the dollar moved higher. The only economic release of consequence
today was the Leading Indicators index, which came in as expected at -.2. Recent
activity in two components of the index–rebounds in consumer confidence and the
stock market–suggest that the declines in the index won’t continue, as their
previous declines have both dragged the index lower for the past few months.
Equities
Equities were lower today on very light trading
as investors returning from the holiday weekend were reluctant to commit further
capital until there is some more clarity about the economic future–guidance and
economic releases. The S&P contract
(
SPM3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was down 1.50 to finish at 889.70,
and the Dow
(
DJM3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was down by 15 to
finish at 8295. The Nasdaq
(
NDM3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) finished down 3.00
and closed at 1080.00.
Fixed Income
Treasuries were down today on news that the
Treasury Department will sell a record-tying $27 billion in 2 year notes at its
monthly auction on
Wednesday. And it is expected to offer $64 billion in three, five and ten-year
notes, about 44% more than the all-time high set in 1996. The 10 year contract
(
TYM3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed at 114-005, down 0-065; the 30 year
(
USM3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) finished at
112-03, down 0-07; and the five year note
(
FVM3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) finished down 0-025 to
close at 112-25.
Metals
Gold
(
GCM3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was up 6.30, or 1.9% to finish at 333.90Â on the back of aggressive hedge fund buying; speculative positions
rose to 180,817 futures contracts last week from 173.293 the previous week. Silver
(
SIK3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) traded in sympathy with
gold and was up 6.50 to finish at 4.5350. CopperÂ
(
HGK03 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) traded lower on the back
of continued SARS worries in China–China has been a huge buyer of copper in
recent years in order to fuel its impressive economic growth. Copper finished at
72.90. Aluminum
(
ALK03 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was also down and closed at .6425.
Energy
Oil finished higher in anticipation of OPEC’s
meeting on the 24th; the cartel is expected to lower its production quota by 1.5
to 2 million barrels a day. Oil futures
(
CL03J |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) were up 1.1% to close at 30.87. And natural
gas
(
FF03U |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was up a slight .004% to close at 5.713.
Currencies
The US dollar was up against every other major
currency, except the “Aussie” dollar today, on light trading. The USD index
(
DX03H |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was
up a slight .34.