Supply Crises Ignites Gas

A report from the American Gas Association (AGA) heightened worries that
stockpiles of natural gas will not build up fast enough to meet winter demand
and triggered the strongest rally in the volatile futures in two weeks. The
September contract closed up .171 at 4.405.

From the Momentum-5
List
,
heating oil
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 and unleaded gasoline
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also rallied,
adding .0104 and .0039, respectively.

Blue chips have been leading the market recently. Last week
the Dow essentially led the market as it broke out of a three-month trading
range. Wednesday,
Dow futures
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sold off for a second day, unable to muster a rally even
though economic data came in friendly, as expected. Both the Consumer Price Index and core CPI rates came in with the expected 0.2%
increase. Housing starts increased at an annual rate of 1.51 million, which was
lower than the 1.57 million that analysts had expected. Since the controlled
inflation numbers and slowdown in the key housing sector did not spur a
continuation move, this suggests the market may have already discounted
subdued inflation expectations. 

Weakness in retail and financials pressured blue chips. Retail continued to get whacked as Home Depot
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and Wal-Mart
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were downgraded by analysts. The downgrades come after recent profit warnings and have either subdued or turned down the entire retail space in recent days. Glamour
retailer Tiffany
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was unable to hold up despite better-than-expected
earnings results and highlighted the weakness in the retail space.
Dow futures
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fell 27.0 to 11,093.0,
September S&P futures
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slipped 3.30 to 1491.50 while
NASDAQ 100 futures
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gained 12.50 to 3763.50.

T-bonds
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reacted negatively to the CPI
figures. The CPI came in as expected but bonds have already largely discounted
subdued inflation, sending the September contract to record highs. T-bonds
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fell 9/32 to 99 15/32 and 10-year notes
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lost 4/32 to 99 14/32.

Gold
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rallied up to a 10-day high, filling the gap left on August 3 and gaining strength on a weakening dollar. Gold is most often denominated in
dollars makes the metal relatively cheaper when the dollar declines. December
closed 2.7 higher at 282.3.

Going the other way,
September silver
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fell to a new contract low, continuing its move out
of a descending triangle. Silver has been on both the Implosion-5
and
New 10-Day Low
lists for the past two days and closed .8 lower at 487.5.

Soymeal
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lead the grains off of contract
lows. Soymeal had been registering on the New 10-day lows list and is now the
leading contract on the Momentum-5
List
. The December contract closed up 1.8 to 157.6, rallying for a seventh
consecutive day to the top of a cup formation. 

October hogs continue freefalling after hitting limit
down levels Tuesday. Lean hogs were on the Pullback From Lows list Tuesday
before hitting their limit locked levels. Wednesday they are the leading
contract on the Implosion-5 List.
For suggestions on how to limit risk and get out of limit locked markets see my
article on Reducing
Risk In Limit Locked Futures Markets.
  Measured moves are useful for calculating reward/risk
ratios and planning trades, a concept you may wish to learn further about in my article
Defining
Reward/Risk Ratios In With Chart Setups In The Futures Markets
. Lean hogs
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closed down .625 at 52.425.