Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Groundhog Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jorj X Mckie who wrote (4856)	5/16/2002 5:17:07 AM
From: John Pitera	Respond to of 6346

Tom, I was thinking the same thing. But I went to look at the open interest on tuesday's trading in the WSJ. and the July contract had about 40,000 more open contracts by tuesday. Thus July is the technical lead month probably starting monday. I'm sure some of the savvy commercial traders had put on the long june and short july spread trade and then ran that spread up prior to reversing it. The contract with the greatest open interest is the one that you want to keep an eye on. (That partially explains why I keep talking about the Dec Eurodollar the past 6 to 8 weeks, it's had the greatest open interest for the past few months) This is a really great example of how this can be important. the July crude can still close over 29 going forward but it's not done it yet. I know it makes it a bit tricky when the charting services do not always show the contract with the greatest open interest. I'm sure glad I've spent time in the past as a futures broker and trader :-) Weds. trading showed that July's open interest was already up to nearly 70K more contracts open than June. Light Crude Oil Jun '02 28.42 0.27 28.26 28.45 28.06 92367 NYMX 05/16/02 04:46:05 Light Crude Oil Jul '02 27.46 0.26 27.40 27.47 27.10 160954 NYMX 05/16/02 04:42:43 JP ---------- COMMODITIES Futures Cash Prices RESOURCES Markets Data Center: See detailed statistics about a wide-range of markets dealing with commodities, from fine wool to heating oil. advertisement SEARCH COMMODITIES ARTICLES Find Commodities articles containing the following words: Display all Commodities articles Crude Oil Tanks on Tepid Demand, As Futures Contracts Plummet 4% By MARIE C. SANCHEZ DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -- Crude-oil prices plummeted 4%, as concerns over recent lackluster demand for products -- heating oil and gasoline -- overwhelmed the perceived risk to crude supply, for now. Nearby June crude futures fell $1.21, to $28.15 a barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange, with most of the loss in the last half-hour of trade. "Everything hit the floor at once," a crude floor trader said. "Sellers were putting out orders by the thousands." When the June crude contract fell below $28.80 a barrel, that triggered sell stops, or preplaced orders to sell, creating an avalanche. Some traders cited sell orders of 5,000 and 3,000 lots each. A lot consists of 1,000 barrels. "Once they ran $28.80, the selling accelerated," said Mike Busby, trader at Northville Trading Corp. "There was no news behind the move that we know of." But many analysts had been nervous about the June crude contract's rocketing up 23% in the last week. They said markets usually undergo a time of consolidation to firm up gains before heading higher. "I'm not sure what triggered the avalanche," said Mike Fitzpatrick, analyst at Fimat USA, Inc. "But we've been trading avidly for a week in which the fundamental had divorced itself from the market." The fundamental influence taking center stage was a set of weekly inventory data that showed products stocks had built last week amid weaker demand. The U.S. Department of Energy reported gasoline builds of three million barrels and distillate builds, which include heating oil, of one million barrels in U.S. stockpiles. The American Petroleum Institute reported a gasoline build of two million barrels and 1.5 million barrels in distillates.