Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Good Morning!
After the FED spoke Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) gave us a harsh reminder of how the global economy is on shaky ground. As many business’ suffered through a rough jump start this 1st quarter the largest construction and mining equipment maker shed light on spending practices of their customers with revenue and earnings dropping dramatically in this time.
On the Grain front we are trading higher in the early going across the board. In the overnight electronic session the May Corn is currently trading at 370 ¼ which is 2 cents higher. The trading range has been 370 ½ to 367 ½. I and farmers alike would love to see a spike in prices.
On the Ethanol front the April contract posted a trade at 1.445 which is .012 of a cent higher. This market is looking ahead to Planting Intentions and Energy prices in the foreseeable future.
On the Crude Oil front the market continues to bask in the fruits of an upcoming OPEC and Non-OPEC meeting to discuss cutting production as these nations are finally realizing they are pumping themselves into bankruptcy which has woken up the sleeping giants in their country’s that sit at King Arthur’s table and want Camelot back. The meeting is scheduled for March 20th in Russia, and is there any coincidence that Russia is pulling out of Syria at this time? Hmm. Just thinking out loud. In the overnight electronic session the April Crude Oil is currently trading at 3901 which is 55 points higher. The trading range has been 3964 to 3847. I anticipate we will try and punch through key psychological resistance at the $40 in today’s trading session.
On the Natural Gas front we have the EIA Gas Storage estimates at 9:30 A.M. The Thomson Reuters poll of 23 analysts have varying opinions of builds or draws. I expect to see further declines in rig counts and capped wells on the rise. Eight of the forecasters expect a surprise build or a steady number of productions. However, I do not see that in the cards. In the overnight electronic session the April Natural Gas is currently trading at 1.884 which is 1.6 of a cent higher. The trading range has been 1.905 to 1.869.
Have a Great Trading day and Luck O’ the Irish!