Trading for the week of March 27th through March 31st ended with the SP500 and Dow indexes closing slightly lower as markets consolidated this week's rally. This leaves markets neutral to bullish signaling that sideways to higher prices are possible near term and the same goes for the NASDAQ 100.
So no better time than right now to get the a heads up from our trading partner Michael Seery. We've asked him to give our readers a recap of the this weeks futures markets and give us some insight on where he sees these markets headed. Mike has been a senior analyst for close to 15 years and has extensive knowledge of all of the commodity and option markets.
Gold futures in the June contract settled last Friday at 1,251 an ounce while currently trading at 1,247 in a very nonvolatile trading week right near major resistance as prices are still trading above their 20 and 100 day moving average telling you the short term trend is higher. At present, I am not, involved in the precious metals as the U.S dollar continues to flip flop which had made the commodity markets basically go sideways over the last several months. For the gold rally to continue in my opinion prices, have to break major resistance around 1,268 which is still about $20 away as the U.S stock market continues to hover near all time highs which generally is a negative towards gold prices. Gold prices bottomed out last month around the 1,200 level as that's when the Federal Reserve stated that they might slow down on raising interest rates sending prices back up towards the upper end of the trading range, however prices still remain choppy over the last several months so wait for a true trend to develop as there are very few markets that have strong trends at the current time.
Trend: Mixed - Higher
Chart Structure: Improving
Get Chris Vermeulen's Short & Long Term Gold Projections
Coffee futures in the May contract settled last Friday in New York at 137.60 a pound while currently trading at 138.50 in a very nonvolatile trading week as I am not involved in coffee at present as I'm waiting for a breakout to occur as the chart structure has improved tremendously due to the fact that prices continue to go nowhere. Coffee prices continue to trade under their 20 day moving average as the 100 day stands at 147 as I'm very surprised at how low the volatility is as historically speaking coffee is one of the most explosive commodities in the world with huge price swings and huge risk as I don't see this continuing for much longer. Ideal weather conditions in the country of Brazil continue to keep a lid on prices as Brazil is the largest producer in the world and also the largest producer of many commodities in the world as we are starting to enter the frost season which is about 5 weeks away & certainly will send volatility back into this market, but at the present time look at other markets. In my opinion, I do believe prices are limited to the downside as eventually I do think higher prices are ahead, but there is very little fundamental news to push prices in either direction.
Trend: Mixed - Lower
Chart Structure: Improving
Sugar futures in the May contract settled last Friday in New York at 17.71 a pound while currently trading at 16.78 down nearly 100 points for the trading week continuing its bearish momentum as I am not involved in this commodity at present, but do have clients who are short a futures position and if that is the case place your stop above the 10 day high which now stands at 18.17. Sugar prices are trading well below their 20 and 100 day moving average telling you that the short term trend is lower as prices are retesting the May 2016 lows and I do think there's a possibility that we could even go as low as 12.50 which was hit in February 2016 as this market remains bearish in my opinion so stay short. The chart structure will not improve for another week so you're going to have to accept the monetary risk as overproduction and lack of demand continue to put pressure on sugar prices here in the short term as I still do believe lower prices are ahead, however, if you have missed the trade like I did move on and look at other markets that are beginning to trend as the risk/reward is not in your favor.
Trend: Lower
Chart Structure: Poor
Copper futures in the May contract settled last Friday in New York at 2.63 a pound while currently trading at 2.65 as I was recommending a bearish position from around 2.61 getting stopped out in Thursday's trade around the 2.70 level taking the loss and moving on as this market remains choppy. Copper prices are trading right at their 20 day but still above their 100 day moving average telling you that the trend is mixed as prices hit a 3 week high following the stock market which is hovering right near at all time highs as the NASDAQ 100 did hit all time highs as I was also stopped out of that trade as I have no precious metal recommendations at the current time. The chart structure in copper is relatively solid as we could be involved once again in the next couple of weeks so keep a close eye on this market as it still looks expensive.
Trend: Mixed
Chart Structure: Solid
