Traders Eye Gasoline Prices

Despite being a slow day overall, one chart in the commodities space had traders gassed up. Pun intended. 🙃

That commodity is gasoline, which is heavily tracked due to its impact on consumer confidence and the economy. And most recently, there’s been a significant decline in prices that’s helped cheer people up ahead of the holidays—case in point: the headlines below. 👇

However, some traders and technical analysts believe the market could start to heat up again.

They’re focusing on this chart of gasoline futures, which shows that 2.10 to 2.20 has been a significant transition area for the market since 2015. And now, with prices back at those levels following a sharp decline, some market participants are betting that buyers will reemerge again and push prices higher. 🐂

Meanwhile, fundamental analysts argue that recession fears, the winter season, and other fundamental factors are likely to keep a lid on gasoline going forward. 🐻

As always, we’ll have to wait and see. But we felt the need to mention this chart because regardless of which direction it decides to go, it will definitely be on traders’ and consumers’ radars. 👀

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Copper Crumbles Amid Recession Fears

If you’ve been consuming financial market-related content for a while, you’ve probably heard the phrase “Dr. Copper” at some point. Well, the doctor was in today, so let’s hear what he had to say. 👂

For those of you confused, market participants often refer to copper futures as “Dr. Copper.” The reasoning is that copper is an industrial metal critical for most aspects of global economic growth. As a result, investors and traders will often use copper futures as a liquid market to express their views of the economy. And for those that don’t trade it directly, they look at it as a barometer for the overall market’s economic outlook. 🧭

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Unlike the U.S., Europe has not made as much progress in bringing down inflation, and its economy has not been as resilient. The region started raising rates later than the U.S. and experienced more direct impacts of the war in Ukraine, so it’s understandable that they’d be a bit behind the curve in making progress.

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We know many of you are rolling your eyes at the title of this post because you’re thinking, “I trade and invest equities; why should I care about cotton prices?” And you’re right; you generally shouldn’t care. But commodities matter to the broader market when they’re at inflection points, which may be the case for cotton. 🤔

Give us a second to explain, and we promise it’ll all come together…

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