New Orders - M/M	P=-2.5 %	R=-0.4 %	E=3.0 %	CR+2.0 % to 6.0 %	A=2.7 %
New Orders - Yr/Yr	6.9 %	9.3 %			7.0 %
Ex-trans - M/M	0.5 %	3.0 %			-3.6 %
Ex-trans - Yr/Yr	11.5 %	14.3 %			10.9 %

New Orders - M/M 

P=-2.5 %

R=-0.4 %

E=3.0 %

CR+2.0 % to 6.0 %

A=2.7 %

New Orders - Yr/Yr 

6.9 %

9.3 %

7.0 %

Ex-trans - M/M

0.5 %

3.0 %

-3.6 %

Ex-trans - Yr/Yr

11.5 %

14.3 %

10.9 %

 The Durable Goods number was supported by new transportation orders.It must be noted that the results from the previous month were revised sharply upward. All in all, the trend is still rising slowly. 

New Claims - Leve	P=410 K	R=413 K	E=405 K	ER=375 K to 415 K	A=391 K
4-week Moving Average - Level	417.75 K	418.5 K			402.0 K

New Claims - Leve                  

P=410 K

R=413 K

E=405 K

ER=375 K to 415 K

A=391 K

4-week Moving Average - Level

417.75 K

418.5 K

402.0 K

 The jobs picture is beginning to gain some traction    

New Home Sales - Level - SAAR

P=329 K

R=325 K

C=310 K

CR+280 K to 340 K

A=284 K

New Home Sales - Level - SAAR 

P=329 K

R=325 K

C=310 K

CR+280 K to 340 K

A=284 K

 New Home sales are struggling under the weight of foreclosed homes.       

Click to view Natural Gas Storage Report

Link to Weekly Supplies Report

Link to this Week In Petroleum

       Energy futures led the other markets on a roller-coaster ride today. Energies and precious metals rallied in early trading on statements concerning the situation in Libya and then broke sharply after the IEA & Saudi Arabia issued statements concerning the replacement of any oil production may be lost in Libya


Link to the IEA Statement
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Case-Shiller Home Price Index:

10-city adjusted M/M change: Prior=-0.4% Acct=-0.4%. The downward rate of change holds steady

10-city not-adj Y/Y Change Prior= -0.4% Act -1.2%

Heavy supply continues to keep prices under pressure

Consumer Confidence: 

Prior=60.6 Revised to=64.8 Est=65.0 Act=70.4

This was the best reading in 3 years

Consumers expecting fewer jobs 6 months out: 15.4% vs 21.2% prev

Jobs are hard to find: 45.7% vs 47.0% Prev

17.3 % see incomes improving vs 13.8% see income dropping

The situation in the Middle East continues to be the main driving force in the commodity markets.

Energies rose 1.73%, grains fell 4.84% and metals fell 1.9%. (Gold +1.0% Silver +2.4% Copper -3.7% Platinum-2.8% Palladium -6.2%)

Spot WTI

Fears of a supply disruption and news that Somali pirates had killed 4 American helped push WTI crude close to the $100.00 mark

COMEX Copper

The metals saw two distinct themes: Safe haven buying in gold and silver and worries that the Middle Eastern situation may curtail economic growth hit the industrial metals

Weekly Corn

Grains were limit-down on the close on heavy fund selling as traders  moved from ags to energies. Traders are also scaling back longs before the USDA crop acreage forecast later in the week.

Because of the observation of President’s Day, screen trading was available for a limited number of futures contract with reduced trading hours. US equity futures products closed at 10am CT while interest=rate and FX markets closed at noon CT. ESH11 was down about 1.0% at the break with the Dollar Index little changed.

The only economic reports today were out of Europe this morning. The German Ifo Survey for Feb. ’11 came in at 111.2, up from the Jan’11 reading of 110.3 and above the 110.5 pre-release estimate. The Eurozone PMI Index was 59.0 up from the prior reading of 56.9 and above the consensus estimate of 57.4

Energies and metals were all sharply higher as the Middle East situation continues to expand. Both of these markets are trading for Tuesday’s value date.

Crude w/ 200d MA

CLJ11 was up over 9.00% as the markets reopened for the night session at 5pm CT.

Libya is not the only concern traders are facing. Unease over the planned movement of Iranian warships in the Suez Canal, BP’s halting of oil exploration in the area and a strike by Libyan oil workers are also underpinning the markets. The front-month CLH11 crude goes off the board on the Tuesday close and that could also add to the volatility.

Gold w/ 200d MA

Gold closed above the $1400.00 price level for the 1^st time since 01.04.11

Silver w/ 200d MA

Silver is trading at its highest level since March of 1980