Humberto Fires Up Gasoline Bulls!
RBOB Gasoline futures rose to nearly 2-month highs this afternoon, as Hurricane Humberto knocked out power to three Texas Oil refineries today. The refineries affected can use up to 850,000 barrels of crude a day, and this comes just one day after the EIA announced that Gasoline inventories fell by 700,000 barrels last week. With Oil prices continuing to hover near the $80 per barrel level, follow-through buying was expected in the energy products, especially Gasoline. Traders noted buy stops being triggered once the October contract moved above recent highs of 2.0278. The next major resistance point for October Gasoline is seen at the July 10th highs of 2.1297, with support found at the 50-day moving average of 1.9684. October RBOB Gasoline closed at $2.0464, up 0.0304.
Cocoa futures declined for the second consecutive session, falling to one-week lows as drier weather in the Ivory Coast should allow growers to move Cocoa beans to port this week. Origin selling was seen, especially after speculators attempted to rally the December contract once prices moved above yesterday’s close at $1829. Lower prices in London and expiration of the September contract were also seen as factors in today’s sell-off. The International Cocoa Organization is estimating a world Cocoa surplus of 117,000 tons in the 2007-08 marketing year. Support for December Cocoa is seen at the 20-day moving average of $1801, with resistance found at $1872. December Cocoa closed at $1818, down $11.
Mike Zarembski, Senior Commodity Analyst
