Markets To Watch Today

Energies: Everyone from policy-makers, traders, companies, and even consumers have been affected by the recent push by big hedge fund companies into the energy markets. They have actually flooded the market as Crude Oil prices test loftier and loftier levels. This is forcing energy traders to pay more attention, as these funds tend to drive the prices one way or the other. Crude Oil went as high as $75.78 before settling at $74.09 on Friday.

Dollar: The Dollar is expected to decline this week, ahead of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy meeting at the end of this week. Even if the Dollar does continue its drop versus other currencies, it is not expected to have any big movements. Analysts are saying that the Retail Sales Data report that is expected to be released Friday will be a "temperature check" on the U.S. consumer. The September Dollar closed down 39, at 8464 on Friday.