Futures News

  The Trend Trader for Futures For Trading On Thursday, February 17, 2011 INDICES Close % Change 3x1 7x5 Minor Trend Major Trend Trend Reading S&P 500 - Mar ESH1 1333.00 + 0.51 1328.50 1321.50 Bullish Dow Jones - Mar YMH1 12252 + 0.41 12224 12185 Bullish Nasdaq - Mar NQH1 2392.00 + 0.44 2384.81 2365.17 Bullish Russell - Mar TFH1 826.40 + 0.79 823.26 813.67 Bullish INTEREST RATES US T-Bond - Mar ZBH1 118-30 − 0.03 118-28 118-01 Bullish US T-Note - Mar TYH1 118-19 − 0.04 118-19 118-12 Bullish CURRENCIES US Dollar Index - Mar DXH1 78.277 − 0.49 78.592 78.313 Bearish Australian Dollar - Mar ADH1 1.0004 + 0.74 0.9981 1.0020 Neutral British Pound - Mar BPH1 1.6094 − 0.16 1.6071 1.6049 Bullish Canadian Dollar - Mar CDH1 1.0147 + 0.47 1.0119 1.0087 Bullish EuroFX - Mar ECH1 1.3565 + 0.62 1.3507 1.3593 Neutral Japanese Yen - Mar JYH1 1.1953 + 0.12 1.1971 1.2059 Bearish Swiss Franc - Mar SFH1 1.0424 + 0.81 1.0338 1.0338 Bullish LIVESTOCK Feeder Cattle - Mar FCH1 130.425 + 1.22 128.831 125.092 Bullish Live Cattle - Apr LCJ1 114.175 + 0.35 113.917 112.333 Bullish Lean Hogs - Apr LHJ1 91.900 − 0.70 92.542 92.375 Bearish GRAINS Corn - Mar CH1 690^4 0.00 692^4 694^0 Bearish Wheat - Mar WH1 837^0 − 0.39 852^0 870^0 Bearish Soybeans - Mar SH1 1366^0 − 0.15 1383^4 1427^2 Bearish Soybean Meal - Mar SMH1 364.3 − 0.63 370.0 381.7 Bearish Soybean Oil - Mar BOH1 56.61 + 0.12 57.04 58.80 Bearish ENERGY Crude Oil - Mar CLH1 84.99 + 0.79 85.01 86.74 Bearish Heating Oil - Mar HOH1 2.7748 + 1.68 2.7498 2.7146 Bullish Natural Gas - Mar NGH1 3.921 − 1.38 3.936 4.026 Bearish METALS Gold - Apr GCJ1 1375.1 + 0.07 1369.6 1358.1 Bullish Silver - Mar SIH1 30.629 − 0.22 30.554 29.833 Bullish Copper - Mar HGH1 4.4700 − 1.46 4.5548 4.5515 Bearish FOODS & FIBER Orange Juice - Mar OJH1 174.60 + 4.33 169.42 167.70 Bullish Sugar - Mar SBH1 31.77 + 3.08 31.09 31.71 Bullish Cocoa - May CCK1 3421 + 1.57 3399 3334 Bullish Coffee - May KCK1 261.60 + 0.19 260.96 253.88 Bullish Cotton - May...

Stock index futures pointed to a stronger open for Wall Street on Wednesday, recovering the ground lost in the previous session, on optimism for corporate earnings after forecast-beating results from Dell. At 0952 GMT, futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were all up 0.4 percent. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European shares was up 0.4 percent at 1,185.06 points, with French bank Societe Generale and Netherlands-based brewer Heineken up 4.3 and 4.6 percent respectively after strong results. U.S. producer prices are expected to have risen by 0.8 percent overall and 0.2 percent excluding food and energy, according to analysts polled by Reuters. IFR sees the overall rate being lifted by a 2.2 percent rise in energy, slightly slower than December's 3.7 percent rise due to less inflationary seasonal adjustments in gasoline, and a 1.0 percent rise in food. Some softening is expected in January industrial output, which is forecast to rise by 0.5 percent compared with the previous month's 0.8...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.45 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.37 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.71 percent at 4 a.m. ET. * The EU and the IMF agreed on Sunday to help bail out Ireland with loans expected to total 80 billion to 90 billion euros to resolve its banking and budget crisis. Fears of a contagion from the Irish debt crisis to other euro zone countries has weighed on stocks in recent weeks. * The news boosted the euro against the dollar, while oil rose to above $82 a barrel, bouncing back from two straight weeks of losses, helped by the weakening dollar. * European stocks rallied early, led by banking stocks such as Societe Generale <SOGN.PA> and Barclays <BARC.L>. * U.S. companies expected to report quarterly results on Monday include Hewlett-Packard <HPQ.N>, Analog Devices <ADI.N>, and Tyson Foods <TSN.N>. *...

  The Trend Trader for Futures For Trading On Monday, February 14, 2011 INDICES Close % Change 3x1 7x5 Minor Trend Major Trend Trend Reading S&P 500 - Mar ESH1 1327.25 + 0.64 1318.89 1321.50 Bullish Dow Jones - Mar YMH1 12241 + 0.39 12193 12185 Bullish Nasdaq - Mar NQH1 2378.25 + 0.70 2361.69 2365.17 Bullish Russell - Mar TFH1 820.80 + 1.12 811.49 813.67 Bullish INTEREST RATES US T-Bond - Mar ZBH1 118-13 + 0.77 117-31 118-01 Bullish US T-Note - Mar TYH1 118-16 + 0.32 118-12 118-12 Bullish CURRENCIES US Dollar Index - Mar DXH1 78.565 + 0.30 78.174 78.313 Bullish Australian Dollar - Mar ADH1 0.9988 − 0.16 1.0025 1.0020 Bearish British Pound - Mar BPH1 1.6008 − 0.56 1.6062 1.6049 Bearish Canadian Dollar - Mar CDH1 1.0117 + 0.78 1.0059 1.0087 Bullish EuroFX - Mar ECH1 1.3547 − 0.38 1.3624 1.3593 Bearish Japanese Yen - Mar JYH1 1.1992 − 0.22 1.2059 1.2059 Bearish Swiss Franc - Mar SFH1 1.0281 − 0.41 1.0354 1.0338 Bearish LIVESTOCK Feeder Cattle - Mar FCH1 126.250 + 1.04 124.539 125.092 Bullish Live Cattle - Apr LCJ1 112.700 − 0.33 112.261 112.333 Bullish Lean Hogs - Apr LHJ1 92.375 − 1.41 92.319 92.375 Neutral GRAINS Corn - Mar CH1 706^4 + 1.15 699^2 694^0 Bullish Wheat - Mar WH1 867^0 + 0.49 873^2 870^0 Bearish Soybeans - Mar SH1 1416^0 − 1.19 1435^2 1427^2 Bearish Soybean Meal - Mar SMH1 378.1 − 1.15 383.8 381.7 Bearish Soybean Oil - Mar BOH1 58.49 − 0.93 59.13 58.80 Bearish ENERGY Crude Oil - Mar CLH1 85.58 − 1.33 86.67 86.74 Bearish Heating Oil - Mar HOH1 2.6958 − 0.55 2.7317 2.7146 Bearish Natural Gas - Mar NGH1 3.910 − 1.91 4.001 4.026 Bearish METALS Gold - Apr GCJ1 1360.4 − 0.15 1361.8 1358.1 Neutral Silver - Mar SIH1 29.995 − 0.33 30.088 29.833 Neutral Copper - Mar HGH1 4.5360 − 0.17 4.5342 4.5515 Neutral FOODS & FIBER Orange Juice - Mar OJH1 165.25 0.00 166.38 167.70 Bearish Sugar - Mar SBH1 31.30 − 2.34 31.73 31.71 Bearish Cocoa - May CCK1 3371 − 0.06 3336 3334 Bullish Coffee - May KCK1 254.95 − 1.12 255.31 253.88 Neutral Cotton - Mar...

By Barbara Zigah The findings of the recently published Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission won’t come as any great surprise to those investors who’ve followed the stories of the financial crisis from the beginning.  Succinctly stated, the Commission found – as many individuals have been saying all along – that the crisis could have been averted.  The crisis became, simply because those in the know – regulators from the various governmental agencies, and the so-called, “captains of finance” – failed to take heed of the warning signs, if indeed they even recognized them as such.  The Commission acknowledges that it wasn’t any one particular event which led to the crisis, but a generalized laissez-faire attitude among all of those entities which share the blame. According to the Commission, time and again, those government agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, and the N.Y. Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank – agencies that we...

First Quarter: Weak Growth Amid Signs of the Emergence of New Crisis The euro zone did not have time to take a breather early in 2010 as economic dilemmas continued to trail it. After two consecutive quarters of growth achieved in the second half of 2009, the pace of progress continued in the first quarter of 2010 but at a moderate pace amid the emergence of a new crisis that has become the overriding concern of leaders in the region and it even was extended at the global level throughout 2010, which is the "European sovereign debt crisis." The main focus throughout 2010 was on the sovereign debt crisis that was considered a challenge to the resilience of the euro-area economies against the repercussions of global financial crisis as well as the ability of governments to continue to support the weak economy. In fact, signs of crisis appeared significantly in November 2009 when Greece announced its fiscal budget plan for the year in...

Another year had passed by for the world’s largest economy, where the level of expectations was high, yet the economy failed to meet those expectations, as the worst recession since the Great Depression proved to be far worse than anyone had expected, nevertheless, the economy continued to recover throughout 2010, although the recovery was rather poor and slow, but 2011 seems to be a far better year for the United States economy. Housing to Continue Stabilizing The housing market in the United States failed to recover sufficiently in 2010, where elevated unemployment, tightened credit conditions, and record foreclosures continued to weigh down heavily on housing market activities, nevertheless, the housing market continued to stabilize throughout 2010, where activity continued to fluctuate heavily. However, this upcoming year seems to be much better for the housing market, where although we still expect more challenges to arise, but we really believe that conditions will improve drastically in 2011 compared to 2010. The Federal Reserve Bank decided in...

New Year’s eve, people said good bye to 2009 and warmly welcomed 2010 with new hopes and dreams. So did the U.S economy, as it said goodbye to the disastrous 2009, which reflected the worst of the worst economic crisis that has hit the U.S economy and the world for a matter of fact since the Great Depression in the 1930’s, and welcomed 2010 with a strong belief that it will be a year of recovery and prosperity. The economic crisis did show its worst side in 2009, the negative GDP growth rates existed in that year, and the excruciating unemployment rates were also witnessed throughout 2009. Analysts expected to put all that behind in 2010 and January did not prove them wrong as then the 5% growth in GDP during 2009’s final quarter was released. Yet nothing went as planned or hoped for, and I will explain why by narrating the events of 2010 each quarter individually. January to March: The Promising...

LONDON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - German government bond futures opened higher on Monday, with trading subdued by market holidays in parts of Asia and the UK. Sovereign debt markets are expected to gear up again this week after the Christmas break, with bonds of the euro zone's more indebted nations likely to come under renewed pressure as governments begin their 2011 fundraising programmes. German and France kick-off the year's supply with auctions on Wednesday and Thursday, while Portugal -- seen as the next most likely to need financial assistance -- will also sell T-Bills on Wednesday. At 0703 GMT, March Bund futures were 0.20 points higher at 125.50. Two-year bond yields were 3 bps lower at 0.829 percent, with 10-year yields half a basis point lower at 2.945 percent. German 10-year yields ended 2010 almost 50 bps lower than in January after Bunds came under pressure in the fourth quarter as markets priced in a better global economic outlook and worried over the cost...

LONDON (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a stronger start for Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq up 0.5 to 0.7 percent by 0913 GMT (4:13 a.m. ET) on the first trading day of the year. U.S. stocks ended the year with double-digit gains, with the S&P 500 <.SPX> recording its best December since 1991. The gains marked a recovery to the market's levels before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. For the year the S&P rose 12.8 percent, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> climbed 11 percent and the Nasdaq <.IXIC> surged 16.9 percent. Sentiment improved after data showed China's factory inflation cooled in December as manufacturers expanded more slowly after a strong run in growth, lessening the need for the country's central bank to tighten monetary policy too far. Later in the session, investors are likely to focus on the Institute of Supply Management's manufacturing survey, due at 1500...