Oil leak! January Crude Oil fell below $59 this morning, after the EIA announced that Crude Oil stocks rose by 5.1 million barrels last week. This was way above the 400,000 barrel gain most traders were expecting. A sizable build in Gasoline stocks and weather forecasts calling for average to above average temperatures in the eastern half of the US also weighed on Oil prices. The initial sell-off wiped out all of yesterday's gains from the slowdown of Oil movement through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline due to severe weather. However, some late day position squaring buying ahead of the long Thanksgiving holiday allowed the market to end the session well off the day's lows. Support for January Crude Oil comes in at $58.00, with resistance seen at $61.40. January Crude Oil closed at $59.24, down $0.93.
Going into the Thanksgiving holiday, Wheat futures ended on an up-note, as a purchase of US Soft Red Winter Wheat by Egypt had renewed the belief that US exports will soon pick-up steam. Egypt announced it bought 60,000 tons of US Wheat in addition to 120,000 tons of French Wheat. Floor sources also tied today's rally to unwinding of Corn/Wheat and Soybean/Wheat spreads. New-crop July Wheat led the way higher, as continued concerns about drought conditions in the Southern Plains have traders concerned about the state of the newly planted crop. Spread trading was active, as speculators continue to roll out of the December contract ahead of next week's first notice day on November 30th. Support for July Wheat comes in at $4.62, with resistance seen at $4.90. July Wheat closed at $4.87, up 12 1/2 cents.
Bears stand their ground! Gold and Silver prices ended little changed from yesterday, after tests of weekly highs were made in today's session. December Gold closed up 30 cents at $629, off a range of $627 to $635, low to high. Gold rallied along with the Euro versus the US Dollar early in the session, but Gold was unable to hold on to the gains, despite the Euro remaining firm into the New York dealing close. The bears rejected prices above $630 today, which suggests that Gold is not ready to break out of its trading range of $615 to $635. Momentum on the daily charts is sideways/down, as it has been since 11/13, but December futures have been unable to break down and close below critical support levels of $620, $610, and $600. Resistance remains at $630 and $637 respectively. Gold is likely to remain within the bounds of the well-worn trading range of the past few weeks.
December Silver futures lost 4 1/2 cents to settle $13.04. The session saw a high of $13.25 and a low of $13. Silver probed new weekly highs today, before losing its footing and falling into negative territory. The market did manage to hold the psychologically significant $13 per ounce level, despite the rejection of higher prices. Today's $13.25 high was the highest Silver price since 9/06, after which the market sold-off the next two weeks to trade below $11 per ounce. Silver bulls may need some time to break through the upper resistance at $13.50, as this price has been well-defended by bears in the past. Look for Silver to trade sideways while bulls regroup to attack resistance. Carl Christensen XPRESSTRADE analyst.