We start off the day with Export Sales and Initial Jobless Claims at 7:30 A.M., New Home Sales at 9:00 A.M. and EIA Gas Storage at 9:30 A.M. Words from U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin at the 2018 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland embracing a lower U.S. dollar really stirred the commodities and currencies markets. This woke up a slumbering Grain market and Corn outperformed the Soybean market in yesterday’s action. This could be a much needed shot in the arm to bolster exports and as planting intentions and weather both here and in South America will be the talk of the town in the coming months. In the overnight electronic session the March Corn is currently trading at 357 ¼, which is ¾ of a cent higher. The trading range has been 357 ½ to 355 ¾. Technically traders would like to see the market test 367. Even with the U.S. dollar trading lower that could be a stretch, but who knows? If we have surprisingly good exports would help get above 360 and start the march to higher prices which would be very welcome news to farmers and investors.
On the Ethanol Front there were no trades posted in the overnight electronic session. The February contract settled at 1.349 and is currently showing 1 bid @ 1.351 and 1 offer @ 1.356 with Open Interest at 411 contracts. Tomorrow we will start tracking the March contract with that contracts Open Interest at 1,835.
On the Crude Oil front $80 a barrel could be a reality sooner than investors think with the International Energy Agency (IEA) continue to totally miscalculate global demand, Fracking output and OPEC be united to keep production cuts into 2019. This may have people that believed those numbers caught short. Next resistance in the March contract is 6739. In the overnight electronic session the March Crude Oil is currently trading at 6629, which is 68 points higher. The trading range has been 6644 to 6574.
On the Natural Gas front the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) releases the weekly Gas Storage data and the market is bracing of 272 bcf. The Thomson Reuters weekly poll with 25 analyst participating estimates draws from 248 bcf to 287 bcf. This compares to last week’s draw of 183 bcf, the one-year of 92 bcf and the five-year 160 bcf. In the overnight electronic session the February contract is currently trading at 3.524 which is 1 ½ of a cent higher. The trading range has been 3.564 to 3.434. Watch Out for another squeeze play on the February contract when the data is released because a big winter chill follows the short-lived warmup. Also President Trump is scheduled to speak today at the Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and once again could shake up the markets like Treasury Secretary Mnuchin.
Have a Great Trading Day!