Good Morning!
In the overnight electronic session the Corn market is currently trading a tad higher with the May contract currently last at 356 ¼, which is a ½ of a cent higher. The trading range has been 357 ½ to 355 ¾ so far. As far as news we are whistling the same old song with South American harvest and look ahead to Crop Production USDA Supply/Demand on March 9 and the March 31 Prospective Plantings.
On the Ethanol front there were no trades in the overnight session. The March is coming into expiration so we shift our focus to the April contract which settled at 1.387 and is currently posting 1 bid @ 1.371 and 5 offers @ 1.382.
On the Crude Oil front the API data showed a huge build of 9.9 million barrels with forecasts of builds of 2.6 million barrels. My question is, with refineries gearing up for the summer driving season changing blends and under maintenance, do we really have that much refining capacity? After the release of the data the market acted in disbelief. In the overnight electronic session the April contract is currently trading at 3392, which is 48 points lower. The trading range has been 3429 to 3355 so far. Today at 9:30 the EIA will release its weekly data and I anticipate lower builds.
On the Natural Gas front the big story is the number of rigs drilling for Natural Gas is at 502. Another large drop would put it below 488, the record low since Baker Hughes started tracking rigs in 1948. Standard Chartered said, “If we find a lower level of activity this would require going back to the 1860’s the early part of the Pennsylvania Oil Boom.” Story contributed by Nicole Friedman @ WSJ.COM.
Another colleague in the industry told me he expects to see rig counts at the 300 level. WOW! In the overnight electronic session the April contract is currently trading at 1.711 which is 3.1 cents lower. The trading range has been 1.746 to 1.693.
Have a Great Trading Day!