Tropical Storm Katrina Drives Crude Oil To A New Record-High
Crude Oil hit a new record-high as
Tropical Storm Katrina headed towards Florida, threatening production from
platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Crude oil hit $67.40 intraday before
closing near the high of the day. Natural gas prices rallied above $10 for the
first time in 30 months.
The EIA report earlier in the day revealed that Crude Oil
supplies rose 1.8 Mln barrels last week, while Gasoline supplies fell 3.2 Mln
barrels. The whole energy complex rallied strongly, led by October Harbor
Unleaded +3.71%, Natural Gas +3.12%, Heating Oil +3.10% and
Crude Oil +2.45%.
The US Dollar fell against the Euro for the third straight
day, driven lower after the release of the Durable Goods report. Durable Goods
orders fell much more sharply than expected. However, both the Durable Goods
report and the Home Sales data had little affect on US treasuries which closed
near the unchanged mark.
Once again the softs were mixed. December Coffee
-2.58%, September Lumber -2.36% and December Cotton -1.02% closed
lower. November Frozen Orange Juice +2.26% and October Sugar
+2.29% closed higher, while December Cocoa +0.14% was little changed.
November Soybeans -1.01%, December Wheat -0.90% and Corn
-0.11% all closed lower among the grains.
December Copper -1.16% was the biggest faller in the
metals, followed by September Palladium -0.67%, September Silver -0.66%
and December
Gold -0.47%.
Economic News
MBA Purchase Applications:
Purchase Index – Actual 488.4
Durable Goods Orders:
New Orders, M/M Change – Actual -4.9% Consensus -1.4%
New Home Sales:
Actual 1,410,000 Consensus 1,340,000
EIA Petroleum Status Report
Crude Oil Inventories – Actual +1.8 M Barrels
Gasoline Inventories – Actual -3.2 M Barrels
Ashton Dorkins