[BRIEFING.COM] The US Dollar Index moved back into positive territory to fresh session highs a few minutes after 10:00, pushing crude and precious metals to new session lows. Meanwhile, natural gas remains in positive territory. March crude oil spent half of its time in the black overnight, but selling pressure kicked in early this morning as the energy component moved back in negative territory. In recent activity, the strong move upwards in the Dollar Index pushed crude to fresh lows today of $74.58 per barrel. Currently, crude is trading just above that level at $74.99, down 1.4%. February natural gas has been in positive territory all session and only saw a modest reversal moments ago on the dollar's strength. Natural gas pushed to morning highs of $5.812 per MMBtu minutes after the open of pit trading, but has pulled back slightly since then and is 2.7% higher at $5.769 per MMBtu. Precious metals also pushed to fresh morning lows on the dollar's strength. February gold hit new session lows of $1081.90 per ounce around 30 minutes ago and is currently 1.5% lower at $1087 per ounce. March silver hit its own fresh morning lows of $16.955 per ounce and is currently at $17.02 per ounce, down 2.8%.

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