Energies
Energies gave bears a last shot at getting short calls or buying puts spreads and then fell apart this week.  This has all the telltale signs of being the end of the bull run in energies.  I continue to recommend selling call premium on bounces and buying put spreads.  Natural gas is lagging the market as the levy breach this week supported the market.  This is good way to diversify among energies, and I recommend developing bear plays in natural gas and crude oil.  Unleaded demand should begin to fade, and the fears of a run on supply weakened heating oil as we head into winter are valid but heavily priced into the market. 

Financials
The stock market failed once again, but established what may become a down trending channel by developing a spike low on Thursday.  I would be weary of any play in the S&P until a break below 1185.  The employment report got a heck of lot more rumor action than trading on the facts, which offered a bullish outlook with lingering questions about the built in affects of Katrina and Rita.  This should push bonds to fresh lows as expected and force the hand of the Fed through the rest of the year.  The dollar took a big pre-report hit on Thursday, marking one of the biggest one day euro rallies we have seen since inception.  Little was done to reverse the move after Friday?s data, but overall the currency market is very much in line with my expectations for a 87-92 range through the end of the year.  Take advantage of the volatility spike to short strangle the euro with December options.  The Canadian may have finally setup a the critical failure I have been waiting for, as the fall of crude may push this market into a major retracement mode.  Several layers of support await the market but the gut says the highs may very well be in.

Grains
Monday offered bulls some hope on follow through from last Friday?s stocks report, but the rest of the week saw an utter momentum failure ? the least of which was Thursday?s failed attempts at breaking out.  The grain complex as a whole can best be judged by the technical setup in beans.  The market is offering a weak looking support above 5.56 and has critical gap resistance below 5.90.  I am in wait and see mode waiting for a break of either price point.  The rest of the grains should follow suit, although a good argument could be made for the divergence of wheat from the other grains.  Rice is in full breakout mode and should surge higher by mid-week in order to sustain momentum.

Meats
So a bunch of action on the news that Japan may pull the U.S. and Canadian beef bans all amounts to a great shorting opportunity.  The big news was all a bunch of hooey as the team that presented the idea that it would be of little risk to remove the ban isn?t even going to deliver an official report until as late as the end of the year.  Moreover, it is expected that even if they make the recommendation to lift the ban that the conditions that go along with that would cause long delays in the actual importation of beef.  Overall the market is begin to retrace or possibly fail and I highly recommend bear put spreads for December options, short Dec. futures with stops above 92 or selling 100 strike calls for Feb.  Hogs appear to be topping out and my once bullish outlook is now neutral to bearish.

Metals
Gold surged to even fresher highs this week, mainly on the heels of the dollar shift on Thursday, but overall on its own merits.  I may be a dead wrong gold bear, but the market will not continue to surge if inflation worries die down with falling oil prices or the if the dollar continues to find support.  Gold bulls argue that gold is diverging from its dollar correlation mainly because of a flight to quality over inflation worries.  Nevertheless the market has rarely sustained a non-correlated relationship and does so only for short periods of time.  Additionally, technical history shows that the gold market has had its three largest and most recent retracements immediately following technical breakouts.  Buy puts across the board as they offer a cheap way to bet against the trend.  Silver spiked and broke out Friday but offers a great chance to sell call premium or buy puts as the move should not sustain itself.  Copper remains a sell and platinum is a sell as well. Palladium is still a value buy.

Softs
Coffee prices continue to remain volatile but go nowhere, and this volatile congestion is sure to lead to a massive move in the near term.  My money is another bull run, but a move through 110 is critical to give confirmation.  Cocoa is a buy.  Cotton is a sell unless we break and close above 55 then all bets are off.  OJ is a screaming buy and remains a great breakout play heading into frost season.  The lumber market is to wild to play (what?s new?) but if I had a gun to my head I would say we are in for a test of the recent lows.  Sugar is a breakout bull play that I mostly missed and I am a step behind and waiting to catch before recommending a play here.  The market is definitely over extended if crude has in fact set the highs.