No Rate Hike; No Help

  • October 3, 2000
  • Marc Dupee

Marc Dupee will be out of the
office until October 9. In his absence, this column is being written by
TradersWire’s Duke Heberlein.

Alan Greenspan and company left short-term interest rates
unchanged as expected, sparking profit-taking on a day that had the index
futures running in the green prior to the announcement. The Dow futures
(
DJZ0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) managed to hold up the best during the sell-off, ending up with a
loss of 5 points to 10820. The NASDAQ 100 futures
(
NDZ0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) were hit the
earliest and the hardest, dropping 133.50 to close at 3395, while the spoos
(
SPZ0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) headed into the Globex overnight 16.70 to the negative at 1439.50.
The FOMC decision also had little effect on the December T-bonds
(
USZ0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), as
they traded in a tight range following the announcement, down 7 ticks on the
day.

Energies for the most part were down on the session, as
traders were most likely waiting for the release of the American Petroleum
Institute report on US inventory data. The report was expected to state an
increase of inventory in all energies, but according to Bridge News,
“traders have been looking for a build-up over the past six weeks, and if
they don’t see it, the market will go up. Apparently , a lot of oil is coming on
the market, but no one has seen it yet.” Crude lost 11 cents per barrel to
end the day at 32.07. Unleaded gasoline
(
HUX0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and  natural gas
(
NGX0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) were also down in sympathy.
November heating oil
(
HOX0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was the lone dissenter in Tuesday’s
trading, gaining .0030 to .9635.

Corn
(
CZ0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), off the Momentum-5
List, broke out of a 12-week trading range, gaining 4 1/4 to 203 1/2, while
December wheat
(
WZ0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), also on that indicator list, was up 1 3/4 to 268 3/4.
Harvest numbers had many traders expecting a down day in Tuesday’s session, but
an increase in exports appears to be a fundamental factor buoying these two
grains. Soymeal
(
SMZ0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) managed to eke out a gain of .6 to close at 170.20,
while the soybeans themselves
(
SX0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost 1/2 to 489.

Meats gave back some of their gains from prior days, with
the February pork bellies
(
PBG1 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropping the most, down 2.450 to 63.275.
October live cattle
(
LCV0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost .100 to 69.275. This action has the
contract trading in an inside day at it recent highs. Feeder cattle
(
FCV0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
ended down .225 to close out the day at 86.325 and is now trading in a flag
pattern on its 50-day moving average. October lean hogs
(
LHV0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) were
down .775 to 58.125, beginning a pullback from its recent uptrend.

The softs were up slightly Tuesday, however, all of their downtrends remain
intact. December cocoa
(
CCZ0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was the biggest hit, gaining 18 to 807. Coffee
(
KCZ0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) ended the U.S. session .05 to the positive at 79.40 and cotton
(
CTZ0 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) adding on .42 to 64.04. Orange juice ended the day at 70.85, up .10.