High Hurricane Activity In The Atlantic
Good Morning!
We start off this busy morning with CPI, Export Sales, Jobless Claims and Real Earnings at 7:30 A.M. followed by EIA Gas Storage at 9:30 A.M. Besides the main headline Hurricane Florence bearing down on the east coast we also have a Disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico, which has a 50% chance of forming into a hurricane and is expected to make landfall across portions of northeast Mexico, Texas and Louisiana with heavy rain and gusty winds. We also have Tropical Storm Isaac lurking southeast of Puerto Rico which could threaten the Gulf region as well. And we have Hurricane Helene a Category 1 and at the moment the cone shows it is not a threat to the U.S. coast and finally we have Subtropical Storm Joyce, which the cone looks as well it will have a boomerang effect and turn northeast and as well not threaten the U.S. coast. On the Corn front yesterday’s Crop Production USDA Supply/Demand report left traders scratching their heads. It just seems investors believe we will have plenty of Corn, but talk to the farmers and they are not so sure with all the rain and a risk of an early frost and a mature crop we have not seen in years. That could be live by the sword and die by the sword. September Grains expire tomorrow. In the overnight electronic session the December Corn is currently trading at 353 ¾, which is 1 ¼ of a cent higher. The trading range has been 355 ¾ to 352 ¾.
On the Ethanol front the October contract is currently trading at 1.270, which is .005 higher. The trading range has been 1.270 to 1.265. 11 contracts traded and the market is currently showing 1 bid @ 1.265 and 1 offer @ 1.270 with Open Interest at 1,210 contracts.
On the Crude Oil front the market had a good rally after bullish inventories and fear of disruptions in the flow of Oil with the active Hurricane season with storms churning in the Atlantic. Not to mention Iranian and Venezuelan Oil shelved. Genscape will be releasing more data at 9:00 A.M. and whisper numbers are that we could see further draws, which could put us above $70 a barrel once again. In the overnight electronic session the October Crude Oil is currently trading at 6955, which is 81 points lower. The trading range has been 7028 to 6906.
On the Natural Gas front we have the EIA Gas Storage report this morning. The Reuters poll with 22 analyst participating expect injection builds anywhere from 60 bcf to 76 bcf with the median number 68 bcf. That compares to the one-year injection build of 96 bcf and the five-year average injection build of 76 bcf. In the overnight electronic session the October Natural Gas is currently trading at 2.854 which is 2 ½ cents higher. The trading range has been 2.856 to 2.815.
Thanks