Markets To Watch Today

Energies: As prices continue to reach record territories in the energy markets so is the volume of contracts traded. Competition between the New York Mercantile Exchange contracts, which offer pit traded energy contracts, and Intercontinental Exchange, which offers electronicly traded energy contracts, has heightened with the price of energy contracts as a whole. Average Daily Volume for Crude Oil contracts at the NYMEX is 266,333 contracts, from 237,651 last year for the same period. ICE Brent Crude Oil volumes are down for the year, trading 213,275 on July 13th, compared to 232,995 on March 9th of this year. Average Daily volume for the ICE Brent Crude Oil contract is 161,254 year-to-date.

Dollar: The Dollar is expected to make some dramatic swings this week, with several data reports being released along with Ben Bernanke's testimony to the congressional panel Wednesday and Thursday. Just as important to the direction of the Dollar are the increasing tensions in the Middle East, the standoff with Iran over its nuclear ambitions, and of course, the North Korean's missile testing. According to analysts, the Dollar could strengthen with increased global risks, as investors move to safe-harbor investments.