Biofuels Stock and Financial Outlook for October 19: Stock futures down, dollar sags, oil hits $90 a barrel
Stocks are expected to open down this morning as major stock indices took a minor hit in overnight futures trading, with all indices down between 0.1 and 0.4 percent.
Oil crossed the $90 per barrel threshold after hitting $80 for the first time a month ago, while the US dollar fell against major currencies as concerns about increasing trade deficits loomed.
In the biofuels sector, investors will weigh the impact of rising oil prices, an announcement by Texcom of its acquisition of Biodiesel International, and new financing for an Advanced Bioenergy subsidiary including capital for a corn ethanol plant expansion.
Yesterday, the Biofuels Digest Indexâ„¢, a basket of public biofuel stocks, rose 0.58 points today to close at 104.75, the highest close for 2007. The Index has jumped more than 7 percent since October 3rd. Large cap stocks led the advance, as Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) was up 0.42 percent to $35.50 and The Andersons rose 4.64 percent to close at $49.21. Biodiesel stocks did well, with Nova Biosource Fuels up 2.19 percent to $2.80 and Better Biodiesel up 41.43% to $1.98. Big Ethanol stocks were mixed on the day, with VeraSun (VSE) up 0.24% to $12.43, while Aventine Renewable fell 1.96 percent to $9.98, and Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) closed at $8.83, down 0.56 percent on the day. Advancers led losers 9 to 8 in the day’s trading.
