All,

Baker Hughes says that the US rig count stands at 1017 up 7 for the week. Natural gas directed rigs are said to be 710 up 5 while directional and horizontal rigs are said to be 636 up 9.

Natural gas itself is holding up beautifully in both the futures and cash markets. In fact, we're down well below 20:1 again to oil and the drop in oil has had next to no effect on natural gas.

At $66, $WTIC managed push today. The $USD made a run at 77.10 again today and failed again. That's 5 days on which it has failed at that point out of the last 10 sessions. $spx:$vix dropped a doji right on its fifty DMA and the bearish MACD cross is still effective with MACD screeching south. The $SPX itself has fallen about the same amount as the prior two pull-backs in this longish bull run but has not yet made it south to 50 RSI, a point at which it has rebounded twice recently this summer and at which point it is nowhere near oversold.

Regards,

Peter