Meats Beginning To Cook
Marc Dupee will be out of the
office until April 9. In his absence this column is being written by
TradersWire’s Duke Heberlein.
Despite lessening fears of a U.S. outbreak of
foot-and-mouth-disease, the meat complex continues to rally to higher contract
values. A March 30 report released news of dead-hog samples from North Carolina
being sent to a USDA test center, with suspicions being that the animals could
have been infected. This fueled a short, sharp rally before it was determined to
be a false scare, which prompted a sell off in cattle, but not the hogs. All of
the meats picked up gains in today’s session. Pork bellies
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gained 3.00 to 97.350, closing on its high tick. Lean hogs
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also gained more than one dollar per contract, up 1.175 to 65.65. Feeder cattle
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.425 to close at 78.775.
In the softs, cocoa
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vulnerable after an apparent failure out on an inverted head and shoulders,
dropping 43 to 1030. May cotton
(
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another new 15-year low early in the day, staged a rally, then settled on its
intraday low, finishing at 44.73, down .36. Sugar
(
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8.15, and coffee
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(
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out the group, down .65 to 74.50.
In the currency markets, dollar index futures
(
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manufacturing index. The rest of the monies were mixed, with Swiss francs
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picking up .0070 to end at .8830. Japanese yen
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.7987, while the British pound
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The Canadian dollar
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to struggle, losing .0003 to trade down to .6343.
May wheat
(
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Friday’s implosion, gaining 4 to 259. Slow demand for United States exports
continues to drag all of the grains, and keeping traders from buying
aggressively throughout the group. Corn
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higher at 208 1/4, up 5. Soybeans
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volume spiked higher, gaining 4 1/4 to finish the session at 432 3/4, with soybean
oil
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3.9 to 150.60.
US debt futures dropped further today, despite the equity
market’s weakness for the majority of the session. T-bonds
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lost ^10 to 103^28 and the 10-year notes
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same to close at 105^28.
April gold
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in precious metals, with copper
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falling .35 to end at 75.50. Silver
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the lone gainer in the group, up 2 at 431.50.
Stock index futures resumed their longer-term downtrends
after rallying off their recent lows. Dow futures
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hammered on heavier-than-average volume, losing 187 points to close at 9775
while the Nasdaq 100 futures
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dropping 72 to end at 1518. The June S&P futures
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18.20 in the red, closing at 1151 going into the Globex overnight session.
Closing up, the petroleum contracts continued to weaken,
partly on fears that OPEC will not make good on proposals to cut back on
production. Crude
oil
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key level of support at $26 per barrel. Heating oil
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well, down .0299 at .6743. Unleaded gasoline
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to .8980, and Natural gas
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closing at 5.103.