Commodities Tuesday, Nov. 4, 1986 : Energy Futures Increase

The national elections rippled into the financial futures markets onTuesday, but analysts said the effect appeared to be minimal.

In the markets, energy futures were higher, gold advanced and cattle was mostly lower while pork showed some strength.

In theory, Democrats gaining control of the Senate would be bullish for gold, but bearish for the dollar, Treasury bonds and other financial instruments. “That’s the general jabber,” said Larry Morgan, an analyst with Dean Witter Reynolds, Chicago. “While there might be some immediate reaction along those lines, because it’s one of those things everyone tells himself, the market’s far too complicated (for long-term implications).”

While there were some reports of traders squaring their accounts before the election returns started rolling in, analysts said this was mostly a sidelight.

Oil futures “got a pretty good runup early on a rumor that Saudi Arabia was going to reduce its output by 1 million barrels a day” until OPEC’s next meeting in December, said Richard Marose, an analyst with Geldermann, Chicago. “But buying tapered off when nothing further was heard about this and the market finally discarded it as merely a rumor.”