Crude Oil Hits 2-Month Low
With the U.S. fixed income and forex market
closed for Columbus day, and no economic news today the equity index futures
also experienced a low volume/volatility session.
The energy market continued to dominate the headlines with
crude oil prices hitting a 2-month low. The
latest report by
the Minerals Management Service showed 78% of the daily oil production and 64%
of the daily gas production in the Gulf of Mexico remains shut-in. Despite the
recent hurricanes Chevron
(
CVX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Kerr-McGee
(
KMG |
Quote |
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PowerRating) announced they are
continuing with development of the (aptly named) Blind Faith Field in the
deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The cost is expected to be approximately $900 million.
In the metals, Gold continued to rally, fast approaching an
18-year high and lifting Silver, which hit a 10-month high, with it. Copper
traded in a very narrow range after hitting another all-time high on Friday. The
latest COT report showed that speculators net long position jumped to a new
high, while the commercials position remains heavily net short, at it’s lowest
level in almost a year.
In the grains, Soybeans and Corn closed lower, while Wheat
closed higher. The USDA’s weekly grain inspection is to be released tomorrow due
to the holiday. Soybeans and Corn hit a new contract lows in thin trading.
Stories have been circulating that Iraq is poised to buy 1-million tons of U.S.
Wheat and was cited by traders as the reason for today’s rise.
The softs were also mixed. Cotton climbed on fears surrounding
Pakistan’s crop and production facilities after this weekend’s devastating
earthquake. Pakistan is the 4th largest cotton producer and India is the 3rd
largest producer. Coffee rallied mainly due to short covering. The NYBOT
announced after the close that is was suspending licenses for a number of
warehouses in New Orleans. Sugar neared contract highs as reports of damage to
sugar crops in Guatemala caused by hurricane Stan continued to worry traders.
TradingMarkets Commodities Watch List
| Commodity (Symbol) |
Price | Price Change | % Change |
|
Energies |
|||
| Crude Oil (CL) | 61.35 | -0.27 |
-0.44 |
| Heating Oil (HO) | 196.00 | -0.01 |
-0.01 |
| Unleaded Gas (HU) | 179.10 | -3.82 |
-2.09 |
| Natural Gas (NG) | 12.94 | -0.29 |
-2.16 |
|
Metals |
|||
| Gold (GC) | 478.00 | +0.30 |
+0.06 |
| Silver (SI) | 784.50 | +7.50 |
+0.97 |
| Copper (HG) | 180.60 | -0.25 |
-0.14 |
|
Grains |
|||
|
Corn (C) |
202.00 | -0.50 |
-0.25 |
| Wheat (W) | 339.75 | +1.75 |
+0.52 |
| Soybeans (S) | 555.50 | -7.25 |
-1.29 |
|
Softs |
|||
| Sugar (SB) | 11.66 | +0.29 |
+2.55 |
| Coffee (KC) | 98.90 | +4.05 |
+4.27 |
| Cocoa (CC) | 1356.00 | -11.00 |
-0.80 |
| Frozen Orange Juice (JO) | 104.00 | +0.15 |
+0.14 |
| Cotton (CT) | 55.70 | +2.07 |
+3.86 |
| Lumber (LB) | 286.10 | -3.70 |
-1.28 |
|
Livestock |
|||
| Lean Hogs (LH) | 64.52 | -0.50 |
-0.77 |
| Live Cattle (LC) | 91.40 | +0.30 |
+0.33 |
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Ashton Dorkins