September SPI Futures traded in a small, I'm not really interested, 18 point range last night, with a high of 6707, low of 6689, and a close this morning of 6703, up 9 points, on volume of 26,128 contracts. December contract closed at 6686. Gaps from last night on September, are down at 6696, 6695 and 6690. Gaps left on the upside from previous days for this contract are at 6708, 6716, 6731, 6738, 6783 and 6812. Gaps on the downside are at 6675, 6607, 6604, 6601 and eight below that starting at 6552. Last trading day for me on the September contract, as the question is, at what price will she expire tomorrow, and the answer is, I don't know. I have a number written down, but who really knows, as tomorrow morning they will push it wherever they want it to go, and I've been caught out way too many times on that one already. My crystal ball ran out of battery's a long time ago.
In the headlines - Oil prices drop (no surprise there) after Monday's big jump, as Saudi Arabia says production is coming back on-line. I'm not holding my breath on the price of petrol dropping at my local servo, which put the price up three days before the drone stike. They must be futures traders too. Market focus back from oil to the Federal Reserve two-day monetary policy meeting, that will result in an interest rate update on Wednesday (US time). Expectations for a quarter-percentage-point rate cut have dropped to less than 50 pct, from 92 pct last week, according to CME's FedWatch tool. A last hour push saw the DOW up .13 pct, SNP up .26 pct, and Canada (resource driven), up .50 pct. VIX down 1.57 pct to 14.44. Have a nice day.
Today in 1971, Momofuku Ando began the sales of his most famous product, the Cup Noodle, with the master-stroke of providing a waterproof polystyrene container. Called "Chikin Ramen", after the original chicken flavor, it was originally considered a luxury item with a price of ¥35, around six times that of traditional udon and soba noodles at the time. As prices dropped, instant ramen soon became a booming business. Worldwide demand reached 98 billion servings in 2009. Chicken Ramen is still sold in Japan and now retails for around ¥120, or approximately one-third the price of the cheapest bowl of noodles in a Japanese restaurant. Yes, the instant noodle, feeding traders and time restricted people all over the world. The opening gap traders version is called "Instant Profits" and is usually cooked and eaten in less than 5 minutes, before the market restaurants are open. You don't have to clean the dish, and you can put your pens in the container. No wonder there is a statue and museum in Osaka dedicated to the man. To quote the man himself "Peace will come to the world when the people have enough to eat." What a guy.
Market focus back from oil to the Federal Reserve two-day monetary policy meeting, that will result in an interest rate update on Wednesday (US time). Expectations for a quarter-percentage-point rate cut have dropped to less than 50 pct, from 92 pct last week, according to CME's FedWatch tool. A last hour push saw the DOW up .13 pct, SNP up .26 pct, and Canada (resource driven), up .50 pct. VIX down 1.57 pct to 14.44. Have a nice day.
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