Oil Approaches Three-Year High And Rate Hike Pumps Up Stock Indexes
Crude oil [CLZ9>CLZ9] rallied to a 34-month high ahead of a key report on US inventory levels scheduled for release after today’s close. Crude moved higher on the expectation that the report would mirror statistics out today from a London organization which showed world inventories hit a three-year low. December crude registered on the Momentum-5 List and closed up .57 at 25.70.
Also from the List, heating oil [HOZ9>HOZ9] closed at a contract high, up .0072 at .6721 and unleaded gas [HUZ9>HUZ9] fell .0072 to .7092. Natural gas [NGZ9>NGZ9] went the other way, making good on its Implosion-5 List reading and closed weakly, losing .073 to 2.451.
T-bonds [USZ9>USZ9] traded at the top of their daily range just prior to the Fed’s interest-rate policy announcement. The bonds spiked up to a two-month high upon release of the news that the Fed raised both the Federal Funds and Discount rates one-quarter-point, then turned around and tumbled nearly a point to end the day down 8/32 at 114 21/32.
Stock index futures also gyrated in volatile trade following the rate hike announcement. December S&P futures [SPZ9>SPZ9] spiked up to 1423.00 then dropped 20 handles before finding support at yesterday’s closing level. The S&Ps then exploded from 1403.00 to a new three-month high and ended the day up 28.00 at 1431.00. December Dow futures [DJZ9>DJZ9] closed 191 higher at 11,015.0 and NASDAQ 100 futures [NDZ9>NDZ9] (from the Momentum-5 List) rallied 80.50 to set a new closing record at 2976.50.
December dollar index futures [DXZ9>DXZ9] continued their up trend (HREF=”https://tradingmarkets.com.site/eminis/indicators/actionsigs/adxc.cfm”>ADX Reading of 31) and closed at a two-month high, up .17 at 100.71. Japanese yen [JYZ9>JYZ9] fell .0091 to .9482 and the British pound [BPZ9>BPZ9] fell .0028 to 1.6188.
The metals moved higher led by December silver [SIZ9>SIZ9] which gained 6.7 to close at 516.5. December gold [GCZ9>GCZ9] added 2.8 to 295.3.
The grains closed narrowly higher: January soybeans [SF0>SF0] inched up 1 1/4 to 470 1/2.
February pork bellies [PBG0>PBG0] pared earlier losses to end down just .225 at 77.050 (bellies are the strongest contract on the Momentum-5 List) and near their recent high. December lean hogs [LHZ9>LHZ9] gained .125 to close at a new contract high of 51.375.
December cocoa [CCZ9>CCZ9] started at a new contract low of 782 but rallied back to end 3 higher at 795. Coffee [KCZ9>KCZ9] slipped 3.30 to 125.50.
After setting up a Turtle Soup Plus One Sell signal two days ago and closing at the bottom of its range yesterday, November orange juice [OJF0>OJF0] fell, losing 1.30 to close at 94.55. Finally, from the Implosion-5 List, cotton [CTZ9>CTZ9] had one of its biggest down days in months, falling 1.30 to a contract low of 94.55.