London Stocks End Slightly Higher

FTSE 100 closes 0.5% higher at 5772.15. Utilities post strong gains, with Severn Trent +3.6% and United Utilities +2.6. Miners also on the front foot with Vedanta Resources +3%, Kazakhmys +2.6%. Encouraging results from McDonald’s and General Electric in the US lend support too. Continue Reading…

May soybeans were trading 5 1/2 cents higher late in the overnight session. China futures were unchanged overnight. Palm oil futures in Malaysia closed up 0.7% overnight. Equity markets in Asia were generally higher overnight, with Shanghai stocks reaching a new 1 month high off positive leadership from the financial sector. Continue Reading…

May natural gas prices have traded in a very narrow range during the overnight and early morning hours, but they have been able to hold above yesterday’s new contract low. The market showed a negative reaction to a relatively neutral EIA storage report yesterday. Continue Reading…

The silver market has started out a touch weaker this morning and it would appear that the somewhat tight coiling pattern on the charts is set to continue into the last trading session of the week. Continue Reading…

July cocoa is under moderate pressure this morning but has already made a recovery from an early test of this week’s lows. A slumping Dollar and stronger global equity markets are providing mild support for cocoa prices this morning, although the market is having trouble climbing back into positive territory early in the session. Continue Reading…

June crude oil prices had a gap higher open Thursday evening and have tracked higher during the early morning hours. Some of the early morning support appears to be coming from a rebound in global equity markets, ideas that China could ease monetary policy as soon as this weekend and better than expected German confidence data. Continue Reading…

July wheat was trading 1 cent lower late in the overnight session. Outside market forces look positive today with a weak US dollar and a bounce in metal and energy markets. With the market in a downtrend, open interest hit a near 1-year high this week and it appears that fund traders could be pressing the short-side of the market. Continue Reading…

In what appears to be a negative fundamental set-up for the cotton market, futures managed to close higher for the third session in a row yesterday. China futures inched higher overnight. Open interest remains high for cotton and fell only slightly on the break to a new low for the year for July cotton on Monday. Continue Reading…

The Treasury market starts the last trading session of the week moderately off from this week’s highs. Clearly macro economic slowing fears remain in place, but those fears don’t seem as prevalent in the wake of a tempering of Euro zone debt fears. Continue Reading…

Gold prices overnight saw a rather narrow trading range perhaps because higher equity price action in Asia was mostly countervailed by weaker equity market action in Europe. Some would-be gold bulls could be discouraged by a lack of fresh economic news today and others might be hesitant to enter gold ahead of the French election outcome this weekend. Continue Reading…