MARKET WRAP-UP

Stocks closed lower on the day after earnings from Bank of America and GE both disappointed.  The S&P closed lower by 0.8%, but still squeezed out a 1.4% gain on the week.  Daily futures wraps up the action from across all markets:

U.S. Economy
The Federal Reserve said that industrial production was up .7% in September after an upwardly revised gain of 1.2% in August, stronger than expected. The December 2010 eurodollars were down .025 at 98.23.

The U.S. Treasury Department said that foreign purchases of U.S. long-term securities totaled $32.9 billion in August while U.S. purchases of foreign securities totaled $4.3 billion. The December U.S. T-bonds closed up 25/32nds at 119.18/32nds.

The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell from 73.5 to 69.4 in October, less than expected.

Bank of America said that they either lost $1 billion or $2.24 billion in the third quarter, depending on which accounting gimmick you favor.

Grains and Cotton
The USDA said that, as of last week, 2009-2010 exports of:
Corn fell from up 20% to up 12% from a year ago.
Soybeans improved from up 24% to up 32% from a year ago.
Wheat improved from down 37% to down 36% from a year ago.

The 6 to 10 day forecast from the National Weather Service is expecting more precipitation in the central U.S. with temperatures below average in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. December cotton closed up .57 at 68.21, a fresh one-year high.

In France, farmers are protesting ag prices that they say are too low.

Livestock
After the close, the USDA said that there were 10.474 million head of cattle on feed as of October 1st, up .6% from a year ago and a little more than expected. September placements were up 4.7% and marketings were down 3.6% from a year ago. December cattle were up .15 at 85.80 ahead of the report.

The USDA said that net sales of beef totaled 8,500 tons last week, down from 15,800 tons the previous week.

Today’s USDA Livestock Outlook said that “Larger year-over-year August 2009 placements of feeder cattle in 1,000-head-or-larger feedlots will likely dampen the earlier expectation that fed cattle supplies would be inadequate to meet demand during the last part of 2009 and early 2010.” They also pointed out that beef imports will likely be up 9% this year.

For the hog market, the USDA Livestock Outlook said that the reported 3% decline of breeding animals in the September 1st inventory report was likely due to “persistently negative returns that began late in 2007.” December hogs were down .37 at 54.10.

After the close, the USDA estimated this week’s beef production at 502.0 million pounds, up 1.1% from a year ago. Pork production was estimated at 463.8 million pounds, down 2.2% from a year ago.

Coffee
The harvest in Brazil is winding down as the world economy continues to show improvement. December coffee closed up 5.10 cents at $1.4285, the highest close in four months.

Orange juice
January orange juice closed up 2.60 cents at $1.1830, the highest close in over a year, boosted by this month’s USDA estimate of a 136 million box Florida orange crop.

Metals
December copper ended down 1.35 cents at $2.8455 in spite of today’s positive U.S. industrial production report. London inventories were up 4,525 tons this morning to 357,850 tons, the most in nearly five months. A strike at the Spence mine in Chile continued for a fourth day.

Energies
December crude oil closed up .94 at 79.02, the highest close in eleven months, after yesterday’s report of a 5.2 million barrel drawdown in U.S. gasoline supplies.

December natural gas closed up 30 cents at $5.713 even though U.S. supplies are approaching maximum storage capacity.

Currencies
Statistics Canada said that consumer prices were down .9% in September from a year ago, roughly as expected. It was the fourth consecutive month of decline. The December Canadian dollar ended down .42 at 96.35.

Source: Daily Futures