Soybeans:

May soybeans lost 2.50 cents on light volume of 199,125 contracts. Open interest increased by 6,779 contracts, which in relation to volume is approximately 40% above average. Soybeans moved to a new high at $14.84 3/4, but was unable to hold the gains. Soybeans remain on a short and intermediate term buy signal, and as recommended before, those clients long futures should use the March 8 low of 14.50 1/4 as an exit point for long positions.

Soybean meal:

May soybean meal lost 90 cents on volume of 82,067 contracts. Open interest increased 3,666 contracts, which in relation to volume is approximately 70% above average. Soybean meal made a high of $442.90, which was the highest level since February 22 when May meal made a high of 443.90 on volume of 125,673 contracts and meal lost $9.30, while open interest declined 1,835 contracts. Soybean meal remains on a short and intermediate term buy signal and as we suggested before, those that are long futures should use the March 8 low of $428.60 as an exit point.

Soybean oil:

May soybean oil lost 27 points on volume of 76,926 contracts. Open interest increased by 2,858 contracts, which in relation to volume is approximately 40% above average. We recommend waiting for a rally to the 51.50-52.00 level before implementing short positions. Soybean oil remains on a short and intermediate term sell signal.

Wheat: We will report on wheat when we see a trading opportunity or something interesting in the market.

Crude oil:

April crude oil gained 39 cents on volume of 510,994 contracts. Open interest declined 4,010 contracts, which in relation to volume is approximately 60% below average. Crude remains oversold, and we expect a rally to at least the $93.00 level. Crude oil remains on a short and intermediate term sell signal. Stand aside.

Natural gas: On March 8, April natural gas generated an intermediate term buy signal.

April natural gas advanced 4.7 cents on volume of 364,251 contracts. Open interest increased 5,870 contracts, which in relation to volume is approximately 35% less than average. Price and open interest action is acting in a bullish congruent fashion for the past several days. We expect natural gas prices to continue to move higher, and support should be found at the $3.40 area. For those long futures and options stay with these positions, but realize natural gas is overbought and with the generation of an intermediate term buy signal, a pullback is likely.

Copper:

May copper lost 1.15 cents on volume of 52,148 contracts. Open interest increased by 361 contracts which is minuscule and dramatically below average. We recommend waiting for a rally to the $3.60 area before considering implementing short positions.

Gold:

April gold gained $1.80 on volume of 248,165 contracts. Volume was the highest since February 26 when gold advanced $28.90 on volume of 270,504 contracts and open interest declined 6,132. On March 8, open interest increased by 2,896 contracts, which in relation to volume is approximately 45% below average. On March 8, gold made a low of $1560.40, which is the lowest price since February 21. The market continues to trade poorly, and we recommend that clients stand aside.

Platinum:

April platinum advanced $8.80 on volume of 14,640 contracts. Volume was the highest since March 1 when 16,374 contracts were traded and platinum declined $10.00 while open interest declined 320 contracts. On March 8, open interest increased by a massive 868 contracts, which in relation to volume is approximately 135% above average. Platinum generated a short-term sell signal on February 22 and an intermediate term sell signal on February 28. Continue to stand aside.

Palladium:

June palladium advanced $23.75 on volume of 8,075 contracts. Open interest increased by an incredible 2,082 contracts, which in relation to volume is an off the chart number of over 1000% increase above average. In previous reports, we have written about the relative strength outperformance of palladium versus platinum and have suggested using Stillwater Mining (SWC) to take advantage of strong palladium and eventually platinum prices. The liquidity in palladium is not conducive to futures trading.

Silver:

May silver gained 14 cents on volume of 54,354 contracts. Volume was the highest since March 1 when 61,782 contracts were traded and May silver advanced 5.8 cents while open interest increased 1,032 contracts. On March 8, open interest declined 1,322 contracts, which in relation to volume is average. On March 8, silver made a low of $28.32, which is the lowest price since March 1 when it made a low of 27.925. Stand aside.

Euro:

The March euro lost 1.05 cents on fairly heavy volume of 367,301 contracts. Volume declined approximately 39,000 contracts from March 7 when the euro gained 1.12 cents and open interest declined 6,030 contracts. On March 8 open interest increased 2,034 contracts, which in relation to volume is approximately 65% less than average. On February 26, the euro generated a short-term sell signal and on March 4 generated in intermediate term sell signal. Stand aside.

S&P 500 E mini:

The S&P 500 E mini gained 6.75 points on volume of 3,053,473 contracts. Volume was the highest since February 25 when 3,123,512 contracts were traded and the E mini closed at 1481.50. On March 8, open interest increased 123,644 contracts, which in relation to volume is approximately 50% above average. As we have said before, once the E mini approaches expiration, volume and open interest  numbers expand dramatically. On March 8, stocks trading above their 50 day moving average on the  NYSE rose to 1,707 from 1,659 on March 7. Stocks above their 50 day moving averages are trading dramatically below the January 22 high of 2115. We continue to think that writing calls that are significantly out of the money is the best way to trade the E mini.