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pre-market data.

S&P futures opened a couple of minutes ago, down 30 points, equivalent to about 250-300 on the Dow.

The CROOKS (allegedly, just indictments so far) at the NYMEX are running a scam and they have NO INTENTION WHATSOEVER of accepting delivery of even 1/10th of the 367M barrels they had as open contracts last week. In fact, Wednesday (June 8) they traded their contracts 454,043 times - isn't that amazing? It's a 123% daily churn rate! Of course, it's easy to churn 454M barrels of crude because the only sucker that ends up paying for all those fees is YOU, the end consumer of crude. All those fees are passed on to you as part of the price...

TONIGHT'S ANDREA SHEA KING SHOW IS ALL BUSINESS The Andrea Shea King Show--9 PM ET http://www.blogtalkradio.com/askshow/2011/05/28/the-andrea-shea-king-show Ann Barnhardt spent last weekend at the Front Sight Firearms Training Institute in Las Vegas Joining us again will be Ann Barnhardt of Barnhardt Capital Management, Inc.Tonight we'll be talking to Ann about economics, specifically the commodities markets. Ann posted this morning about an alarming trend in the cattle/corn markets, and since all commodities translate to the cost of everything we buy, we thought we should have Ann stop by and explain just what's going on in the trading pits of Chicago. As Ann...

The Silver market is in a bubble stage right now. No one really knows how long this will last, whether Silver goes up another $5, 10, 20 doesn`t really matter for investors who are buying the physical metal in the form of coins because when the bubble ends they are going to be sitting on a depreciating asset. Sure, long term, Silver will be worth more sometime in the future compared with the average price of the last 30 years in the next 30 year segment. But Silver prices have risen far too fast in to short of a time...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures hit the psychological mark of $1,500 an ounce on Tuesday, shaking off early weakness as the dollar sunk further. Gold for June delivery GCM11 +0.31% wavered between small gains and losses earlier, but recently added $6.40, or 0.5%, to trade at $1,499.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It earlier traded as high as $1,500, according to CME, an intraday record for the metal.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose $1.07, or 1%, to $109.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It traded as high as $109.99 a barrel, according to FactSet Research. Prices had traded in the red off and on, however, as some investors judged current prices overdone. A better-than-expected data on U.S. jobless claims underpinned oil’s run, but prices also felt the pinch of a stronger dollar and falling U.S. equities. News out of the Middle East and North Africa didn’t make that many headlines. “The U.S. so far has not shown the weakness that people had been...

Someone came in right before the bell and hammered all the index futures so hard they collapsed the bid/ask. The e-mini S&P dropped 7 points in seconds and had the most ungodly amount of volume I've ever seen - over 10X the standard at closing.

About the only commodity markets that were lower today were the feeder cattle and natural gas markets. Corn is back at levels last seen in August 2008. Soybeans are working at reaching the $13 level while wheat is above $7 once again. Cotton is once again limit up as it continues to trounce one record after another and is now well above levels last seen when Rhett Butler was running Yankee blockages during the era portrayed by “Gone with the Wind”. (We are organizing a raid on neighborhood clothes lines where a rich stash of cotton underwear and T shirts...

Gold futures climbed Thursday in Asia's morning trading to touch a high of nearly $1,378 an ounce on Globex. Expectations for another round of quantitative easing from the U.S. Federal Reserve had fueled a rise in prices Wednesday in New York, which marked the 16th record high in five weeks. In Asia's morning trading, December gold was up $6.10 at $1,376.60 an ounce on Globex after trading as high as $1,377.90. On Wednesday in New York, it settled at $1,370.50, up $23.80.

US Futures Surging Joe Weisenthal Sep. 12, 2010, 9:43 PM Yes, it's a long way until the open in New York, but as of right now it's looking like it will be a good one. Here's a look at S&P futures: We noted earlier that the early Monday action had all the makings of a classic "risk on" kinda day, helped in part by seemingly benign Basel rules for banks.[snip]

U.S. Stock Index Futures Up; Chipmakers Eyed Blaise Robinson Fri Sep 10, 2010 5:05am EDT * U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500 SPc1 up 0.3 percent, Dow Jones DJc1 futures up 0.1 percent and Nasdaq 100 NDc1 futures up 0.4 percent at 0850 GMT. * Technology shares will be in the spotlight after chipmakers National Semiconductor (NSM.N) and Texas Instruments Inc (TXN.N) issued quarterly financial targets that stoked investor worries about a sluggish economy. * Shares of National Semiconductor traded in Frankfurt (NSM.F) were down...

Market Manipulation On Display "Rarely does it get this blatant..... this ...goes on every day, but once in a while it's just "in your face." Tonight was one of those examples."

US Futures Are Surging Vincent Fernando, CFAJune, 2010, 4:55 AM European markets were in the red, but now appear to be surging. The CAC 40 and DAX are now in slightly positive terriory and the FTSE seems to be heading that way. The euro has managed to hold itself above $1.20, after making the break above this level yesterday. Despite the fact rumored strong Chinese export performance was found to be true today, as official numbers were released showing a massive surge in exports, Asian markets lost steam. The Nikkei 225 was up under 1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng barely...

Futures Up After Hours, Australia Up, Nikkei Snaps Back From Early Losses Joe Weisenthal Jun. 7, 2010, 8:54 PM Well, we've been through this several times before, but... Tuesday is starting off on the right foot (if you're bullish). To start, US futures are up a bit, so despite the bleeding in the final minutes of the day, that's stopped for now. In Australia, markets are heading higher (modestly), and in Japan, stocks are down a little, after starting sharply lower. Gold, meanwhile, seems to have taken a breather after a furious mid-day rally. Image: KITCO[snip]

Asia, Europe Keep Falling Vincent Fernando, CFAJune 2, 2010, 4:33 AM European markets are down across the board, with the FTSE, DAX, and CAC 40 in the red by over 1%. Asia has fared slightly better with the Hang Seng and mainland China's CSI 300 slightly in the green. Japan's Nikkei nevertheless is down over 1% and overall, MSCI Asia Apex 50 is down half a percent. On the currency front, the yen has weakened against the dollar, after Japan's prime minster announced he would step down due to falling his deteriorating public support... though it hasn't been a huge...

CNBC Pre-Market Data. Dow Futures below 9000

US Futures Still Heading Down, Nikkei Dives 2.2% Joe Weisenthal May 24, 2010, 9:31 PM Asia picks up the baton that the US handed off in the final minutes of trading. Here's the Nikkei. It's now down over 2%. Image: Nikkei.com Us futures are off significantly. Dow futures are off nearly triple digits. Meanwhile the euro is holding $1.23 by the skin of its teeth. For a wrapup of the US market action, see here.[snip]

It Gets Worse After Hours: Futures Fall Ever Closer To Flash Crash Lows Joe Weisenthal May 20, 2010, 4:59 PM Image: FinViz And after all that, the selling STILL isn't over. Futures are trading off further post-market, and are now within a point of the 1065 flash-crash low Correction: the flash crash low is 1055.[snip] .

U.S. stock futures surged Monday, tracking a rally in European markets as investors cheered a European Union plan designed to stave off a run on the euro. More than three hours before the start of trading, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures jumped 403 points higher to 10738. The S&P 500 futures soared 54.4 points to 1161.5 and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 79.25 points to 1927.75. Changes in futures do not always accurately predict early market moves after the opening bell. The 54.4 point advance for the S&P 500 contract far exceeds any one-day advance this year, though it still wouldn't...

Current futures. Updates automatically every couple of minutes... Could be something, could be nothing... Speculate away......

DOW, Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures all down. DOW futures down -106 as I type this and Nasdaq futures down -18.75. S&P 500 futures down -12.60. Government will step in with play money and change the picture by tomorrow, I'm sure. However, it is interesting to watch. Go here for futures quotes:

The futures aren't looking bright, this evening..... I'm moving all into cash. Check your stop limits, boys and girls.....

Forecasts for some of the coldest temperatures on record in Florida this weekend have heightened concerns about possible damage to the state's orange crop, sending orange juice futures as much as 7% higher early Friday. Florida's citrus industry has been under pressure all week owing to the freezing temperatures, which have so far caused only isolated damage to the 2009-10 orange crop. Frozen concentrated orange juice futures have gained 17% amid fears that crop damage could be substantial, something that hasn't happened in two decades. Frozen concentrated orange juice for March delivery, the most actively traded contract, was up 6%...

Dow Futures down 327 as of 2:41AM. NASDAQ down 70.75. S&P down 41.70.

NEW YORK, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Gold futures in New York rose to a record above $1,100 per ounce on Friday as the dollar eased in the wake of disappointing U.S. employment data. At 9:48 a.m. EST (1448 GMT) December gold GCZ9 was up $10.20 at $1,099.50 an ounce at the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, having topped at $1,101.90 in morning trade. Spot gold XAU= reached a record at $1,100.90 per ounce.

Oil Futures Give Back Some Of Previous Day's SurgeCrude still set to gain more than 11% for October as dollar slumps.Oct. 30, 2009, 11:15 a.m. EDT Polya Lesova, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures dipped on Friday after a 3.1% surge in the previous session on news the U.S. economy returned to growth, as a mixed batch of economic reports led traders to reassess the outlook for energy demand. Crude oil for December delivery was recently down 80 cents, or 1%, at $79.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Still, oil has gained more than 11%...

Stock futures signal sharp drop after Asia selloff On Monday August 17, 2009, 4:28 am EDT PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) - Stock index futures extended their losses early on Monday, mirroring a selloff in Asian and European stocks on mounting worries the equities' recent surge had run ahead of the global economic recovery. At 4:18 a.m. EDT, futures for the S&P 500 were down 1.92 percent, Dow Jones futures were down 2.11 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures were down 2.11 percent. Chinese stocks (^SSEC - News) sank 5.8 percent to their lowest close in two months on Monday on worries about added...

Changes in the sun is shortening growing season while credit crunch leaves farmers unable to purchase fertilizer at a time when world food supplies are at all time lows. Crop failures around the world are snowballing into a dangerous climax that may lead to social unrest and famine. Suggest reading entire article and links within it. Very scary... and this is happening... it is not conjecture. A mini ice age may be on the way because of sunspot cycles and already existing empty grain, coffee, et al silos.

Futures point to lower Wall Street open By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch Last update: 5:52 a.m. EDT March 12, 2009 MADRID (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures were heading south on Wall Street Thursday, with stocks overseas lower on the view a sustained turnaround for stocks can't be called yet, while Genentech agreed to a buyout worth $48.6 billion from Roche. S&P 500 futures fell 5.1 points to 715.40 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 6.5 points to 1,125. Dow industrial futures fell 45 points to 6,869. U.S. stocks eked out their first back-to-back gains since early February Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase Chief...

VIENNA - Surging crude inventories and investor skepticism over the U.S. stimulus package dragged oil prices below $36 ($35) per barrel Thursday. Investors seemed more wary than relieved after U.S. lawmakers finally agreed overnight to a $790 billion stimulus bill designed to pull the economy out of recession.

When oil rocketed past $100 on its way to $147 a barrel last summer, analysts frequently commented that prices "were not supported by the fundamentals." Now, with oil trading between $35 and $50 in recent weeks, a few questions keep crossing my mind. Do the current "fundamentals" support $40 oil? What price do the "fundamentals" support? In 2009, with the world a different place after an economic meltdown, just what the heck are the modern "fundamentals" of the energy market? I called John Olson, the co-manager of Houston Energy Partners, for some answers. Olson told me that the fundamentals of...

DOW 1month FUTURES FUTURES FAIR VALUE (-90.75) 8691.25 8450.0 -324.00 8683.25 8450.0 -233.25 S&P 500 1month FUTURES FUTURES FAIR VALUE (-6.79) 908.11 880.5 -34.70 908.41 880.5 -27.91 NASDAQ 1month FUTURES FUTURES FAIR VALUE (-10.34) 1239.16 1208.0 -45.50 1243.16 1208.0 -35.16

Crude oil prices could possibly fall to as low as $40/barrel, and as crude continues to lose value it may soon be oversold, Deutsche Bank chief energy analyst Adam Sieminski told an audience at a Washington think-tank Monday. "Just as we overshot with $140/b oil, we could undershoot with oil at $40/b," Sieminski told attendees at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Global Energy and Environment Initiative. Crude oil prices are down more than 50% since reaching an intraday record high of $147.27/b on July 11. NYMEX December oil futures Monday fell as low as $61.30/b earlier in the day, before rebounding...

World's leading economies -- led by U.S. Federal Reserve and European Central Bank -- announce half point cut in interest rates.

Fed Orders Emergency Rate Cut to 1.5 Percent; Futures Soar

...and it *was* down to $94.13! Wouldn't it be great to see it go below $89.99 by the end of the day? ;OD

There are 5 contracts that I intend to examine to get a start on finding some kind of number to quantify Liberal Bias on Intrade. The first contract is 2008.PRES.CLINTON(H) which seems like it should have zero value. This gives a good glimpse at a baseline bias value. Taking into account the volume of the contract, bias might be expressed as Price * Volume of such a baseline contract. In this case it's 3.2 * 522834, but that's unnecessarily high because the volume is over the life of the contract. So I would use the volume since the convention ended,...

Now whose got yer Bounce, Baby Bama Baller?!? Dat B SARACUUUDAAHHHH!!!!!!

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Proposals to reign in wallet-draining gasoline prices by curbing speculation in oil markets would likely increase costs at the pump instead of trimming them, a University of Illinois economist says. Scott Irwin argues congressional efforts to curb trading by speculators is a “misguided witch hunt” that ignores the root of America’s energy problem – a finite global oil supply that has been stretched thin by surging demand in China, India and other developing countries. “We need to have a real national debate about issues related to both the demand side and the supply side of our energy...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The government charged an oil trading firm Thursday with manipulating oil prices in the first complaint to be announced since the regulators began a new investigation into wrongdoings in the energy markets. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission accused Optiver Holding, two of its subsidiaries and three employees with manipulation and attempted manipulation of crude oil, heating oil and gasoline futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange. "Optiver traders amassed large trading positions, then conducted trades in such a way to bully and hammer the markets," CFTC Acting Chairman Walt Lukken said at a press conference. "These...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A massive $3.2 billion trading loss on oil futures and derivatives sank high flying energy trader SemGroup LP, which at one time billed itself as the 14th-largest private company in the United States.

ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Alaska | This place is a Zen thing. The only way to tell you’ve wandered in is the absence of anything saying so. No signs. No road to get here. No advice from government stewards about what to seek out or what to avoid. No entrance fees and no officially licensed T-shirt. This isn’t just wilderness, contend those who want to keep it pristine, but a sanctuary for wildness. It is also oil country. With just the last half of the last year of the petroleum-friendly Bush administration remaining, the window for opening the land to...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices extended a post-July 4th descent Tuesday - falling more than $9 a barrel over two days - as Iran's president downplayed concerns about possible war in the Middle East and investors anticipated falling demand due to high gasoline prices. The price of light sweet crude for August delivery tumbled $5.33 to settle at $136.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the lowest level in nearly two weeks, and followed a drop of $3.92 Monday. Iran:Concerns over supply disruptions in the oil-rich Middle East eased after Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said...

Congress is back in session and oil prices are still through the roof, so pointless or destructive energy legislation is all but guaranteed. Most likely is stiffer regulation of the futures market, since Democrats and even many Republicans have so much invested in blaming "speculators" for $4 gas. Congress always needs a political villain, but few are more undeserving. Futures trading merely allows market participants to determine the best estimate – based on available information like supply and demand and the rate of inflation – of what the real price of oil will be on the delivery date of the...

Without a doubt, crude oil is the most important commodity on our planet. Hypothetically if it vanished overnight, our entire modern world would collapse. No goods could move without the oil-derived transportation fuels, so virtually all trade would implode. Unlike nearly every other major commodity, there is just no economically-viable substitute for oil. And the fundamentals driving oil’s secular bull are unparalleled in their strength. As Asia awakens and enters the modern era, global demand for oil is rising relentlessly. Despite today’s unprecedented prices, demand remains strong all over the world. And of course once oil is burned, it is...

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Atlanta hedge fund manager Michael Masters has been a star witness in two recent Congressional hearings on how speculators are supposedly driving up oil prices. Masters and I don't see eye-to-eye on this issue, so I was surprised to get a call from him after my "Don't Blame The Oil Speculators" column went up on Fortune.com last week. Masters contends that without speculators, the price of oil would be $65 or $70 a barrel. He points out that the amount invested in commodities index products has risen from $13 billion to $260 billion in five years,...

<p>Before the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission starts scrutinizing the role that speculators may have played in driving up fuel and food prices, investigators may want to take a look at price swings in a commodity not in today's news: onions.</p>

LEGISLATIVE COMMENTS May 22, 2008 Via Facsimile and Overnight Delivery The Honorable Dianne Feinstein 331 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 Dear Senator Feinstein: I write on behalf of IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (“ICE”) and ICE Futures Europe in response to recent comments regarding the role of regulated, global exchanges that provide centralized and transparent price discovery for commodity markets. Specifically, with regard to energy, ICE has strived to demonstrate leadership in supporting efforts of both the CFTC and Congress further enhancing market transparency. As you know from our work together on the 2008 Farm Bill, ICE strongly supports the objective...

Congress will focus on energy speculation on Monday, as some lawmakers blamed Wall Street traders for record oil and gasoline prices... Many in Congress have suggested the closing of a provision in the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 that critics call the "Enron loophole..." The provision allows oil futures to be traded in markets outside of the jurisdiction of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission... Proposals have included requiring foreign exchanges to provide more information about crude oil trades, limiting the number of contracts speculators are allowed to hold, increasing the amount of money speculators need to put up to...