Friday October 4 - The Devils contract

Opening the thread early, as won't be around at market close and for much of the morning.  As at time of writing, SPI Futures has traded in a 88 point range, with a high of 6499, low of 6411, and a last trade at 06:15 of 6495, up 32 points on volume of 21,692 contracts. So, we are basically right back where we were yesterday morning. Only one gap from last night that I can see, and that is at 6477.

In the headlines - The Institute of Supply Management reported worse-than-expected growth for the US services sector. Indices turned sharply lower following the closely watched report, with the Dow falling as much as 335 points at its lowest point, however markets rallied back, recovering their losses, as hopes of a Fed rate cut increased dramatically. Expectations for a quarter-percentage-point interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve briefly jumped above 90 pct, compared to 77 pct on Wednesday and less than 50 pct last week, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. DOW up .47 pct, SNP up .80 pct and Canada (resource driven) up .36 pct. VIX down 6.63 pct to 19.15. Have a nice Friday, the anything can happen day, and US NFP tonight.



Today in 1897, George Bernard Shaw's play, the "Devil's Disciple" premiered in NYC. Set in Colonial America during the Revolutionary era, the play tells the story of Richard Dudgeon, a local outcast and self-proclaimed "Devil's disciple". In a twist characteristic of Shaw's love of paradox, Dudgeon sacrifices himself in a Christ-like gesture despite his professed Infernal allegiance. A film adaptation was made in 1959 starring Burt Lancaster as Reverend Anthony Anderson and Kirk Douglas as Dick Dudgeon, Yes, SPI Futures has been called the "Devils Contract" so you must be a disciple to trade it, and it has been said that if  you can trade the SPI, you can trade anything.