Higher Gas Prices On Horizon?
Marc Dupee will be out of the
office until April 9. In his absence this column is being written by
TradersWire’s Duke Heberlein.
The energy complex rose higher across the board, lifted
up by unleaded gasoline
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hitting a new contract high of .9730 before closing up .0398 at .9715. The
American Petroleum Institute released information regarding the drop in gasoline
stocks — down by more than 4 million barrels — causing worry about supply as
summer approaches. Heating oil
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with crude oil
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gas
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Stock index futures attempted to rally in the first half of the session,
but fell victim to the same uncertainty that has been hanging over the markets
for the past few weeks. Players hoping for a bone from Fed chairman Alan
Greenspan were left high and dry, as he gave no indication as to short-term
monetary policy in his testimony on Capitol Hill this morning. Put all this
together and you have the index futures riding a roller coaster all session
long. Nasdaq 100 futures
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contract low. S&P futures
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the churning, up 3.9 to 1112.50 and the Dow futures
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rally into the close, up 114 to 9594.
Bonds continue to take their cue from the equities
markets, waiting for Friday’s release of the March employment data. T-bonds
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higher for the second straight day, up ^07 at 106^09.
In the softs, cotton
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aided by flooding in the southeast U.S. and expectations of foreign imports,
gaining .80 to 46.19. Cocoa
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falter, losing 15 to close at 1000. May sugar
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dropping .05 to 8.15, orange juice
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at 74.15, and coffee
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59.25.Â
Cattle contracts closed mixed, with live cattle
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April lean hogs
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distributed some of their recent gains, falling 1.625 to end trading at 95.075.
Corn
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that the current weather conditions in the corn belt could delay planting longer
than anticipated. CK1 gained 2 1/2 to close at 211 3/4. Soybeans
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of Santos, Brazil, fueling speculation of more U.S sales as exports are slow to
leave the port. Soymeal
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numbers this summer, gained 3.6 to 153.3, and soybean oil
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slipped .05 to 15.64. May wheat
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edged higher, gaining 3 1/2 to 265 1/4 by the close.
Dollar index futures
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to retreat against the European currencies, dropping .59 to 115.26. Swiss
francs
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ended the day .0014 higher at 1.4328, and euro FX futures
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gained .0062 to .9027. Japanese yen
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.0015 to .8052, and the Canadian dollar
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the trading session on a postive note, up .0031 to .6365.
Finally, the metals all
survived a losing day, with gold
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unchanged at 76.10.