Will Retail Sales Help The Dollar?
Crude oil
higher today despite after early weakness brought on by OPEC’s
decision over the weekend to raise production by 1.5 million barrels in an
effort to help offset shortages from the Venezuelan oil strike. OPEC’s
production increase will not take effect until Feb. 1, which is after Iraq’s
Jan. 27 deadline. Crude oil traded higher earlier as traders feel
that supplies could still become a problem in the event of a war with Iraq.
February crude gained 0.62 to 32.30. Tomorrow
will mark the deadline to OPEC’s unofficial agreement to increase production by
500,00 barrels a day in the event that oil stayed above the $28 level for 20
days.
Stock index futures had another choppy
session as early morning gains quickly vanished after analysts had negative
comments about the growth prospects of giants such as
Dell Computer
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Johnson
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announcement. Both the S&P and Nasdaq 100 futures showed small loses at the
close. The March S&P contract
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dipped 0.19 to 926.30 while the March Nasdaq
contract
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Gold continued to hang around its highs
amid war tensions. February gold
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inched up 0.10 to 355.10.
The dollar bounced today after hitting
another three-year low on Friday. The greenback traded higher ahead of
tomorrow’s retail sales report. Traders are expecting a 1.5% increase inÂ
December retail sales. The March dollar index
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