Gasoline Drives Off A Cliff
With the peak summer-driving season half completed, momentum waned from
unleaded gasoline
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other contracts in the energy complex, unleaded gasoline also started making
good on a head-and-shoulders top pattern and tumbled below its 50-day moving
average to close down .0479 at .9110.
Also contributing to the downside in gasoline and the energies were comments
by OPEC Secretary General Lukman who indicated the the cartel would go along
with Saudi Arabia’s recent decision to increase production. Lukman said oil
producers would raise production as “necessary,” implying the cartel
would support the Saudis’ apparent push to drive oil below $25 per barrel.
August crude oil
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Natural gas also turned around from an early start higher to end at a third
consecutive weekly-low and below the neckline on a head-and-shoulders top, down
.035 at 3.825.
Negative earnings and thoughts that the market posted too much of a relief
rally Thursday in response to Fed Chief Greenspan’s comments on the economy to
Congress pitched stock index futures sharply lower. Disappointing earnings
from Lexmark and Hewlett-Packard spinoff Agilent, were the biggest negatives on
the S&P 500, and worked to send the September S&P futures
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down 27.20 to 1489.00, a close on the lows of the day.
NASDAQ 100 futures
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closing 112.00 lower at 3940.00. Declines in Agilent also hit Hewlett-Packard,
the biggest Dow component point-loser, and sent the futures
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200.0 lower to 10,780. DJU0 also made good on a Turtle Soup Plus One
Sell setup. Â
From the Momentum-5
List, September T-bonds
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year as bond traders engaged in follow-through buying, viewing Greenspan’s
comments Thursday as lessening the chance the Fed will raise interest rates
again this year. T-bonds rallied 1/2-point before settling 8/32 higher at 98
23/32. September 10-year notes
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Comments by an S&P analyst that Japan faces immense economic challenges
took a toll on the yen, leaving it down .0108 at .9278, its lowest level of the
year. The yen is on the Pullback From Lows List
and signaled the potential for a larger-than-normal move by registering on the
6/100 Low Volatility
List.