Even though the much-anticipated non-farm payrolls report came out at an above-expectations number (171K vs. 155K estimate), the U.S. equity indexes are having trouble today holding onto a rally. Our first thought is that as positive as the numbers were today, investors are still mainly holding onto their capital, waiting to see the results of next week’s presidential election.
Many major commodities are experiencing fairly strong selling today, especially so with the bullish U.S. Dollar trading this morning: As of this writing, crude oil is down 1.66%, gold futures are down 1.38%, natural gas futures down almost 2%, and corn and soybean futures are both down around 1%. The U.S. Dollar Index is rallying from the key 80 level up around .6% today. 81.50 is our next upside level for the U.S. Dollar Index.
Today we focus more on DEC 12 heating oil futures. The energy markets are taking a beating today with heating oil futures touching prices below the important $3 level. Notice the chart with ideas and levels we included: $3.09 is our key pivot, and heating oil is trading well below this level. If heating oil can stay below $3.09, we look for the bears to continue to bring this market lower to our next major price area of $2.87. As we have been noting in recent commentaries, we maintain our crude oil downside target at $82.
