Nouvelles

Feb 11, 2014 Yahoo Finance

Natural Gas Prices jumped more than $1 after Yellen’s remarks; price may find support near $4.28 per Million British Thermal Units (MBTU) on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

• Crude oil futures rose to $100, huge resistance is seen near 100.73
• Yellen says recovery in labor market is far from complete

Natural gas and crude oil futures rose on Tuesday as financial markets took Janet Yellen’s remarks about the labor market as dovish and consequently, the US Dollar (USD) slid.

Only a “significant change in economic outlook”, proclaimed Yellen, could prompt the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to slow the current pace of tapering in its monthly asset purchase program worth $65 billion. Although recovery in the labor market is not very impressive, growth picked up considerably, Yellen said. Financial markets took these remarks as dovish because the pace of tapering is linked to recovery in the labor market. Yellen’s remarks came days after a Labor Department report showed that the US economy could create far less jobs in January than expected. However, the unemployment rate fell to 6.6% last month, very close to the Fed’s 6.5% threshold, after which a policy shift might be expected. FOMC members will meet on March 18-19, where they will analyze both January and February job data before voting on the pace of the asset purchase program.