Corn spiked higher in Monday's overnight electronic session, following the 4% drop in the USDA Crop Progress rating of corn deemed to be good-to-excellent. The spike was short lived as it brought sellers back to the table immediately. With good growing weather with an expected robust crop, fears of a bumper crop crept back into the marketplace. These fears are based on good, solid fundamentals and the funds are short. With these factors in place, the selling pressure could be daunting. We are seeing tight ranges again with July corn currently trading at 326 ½ which is 2 ½ cents lower. The trading range has been 328 ¼ to 326 ¼.
Ethanol may get a boost from reports that it may be a win for the EU’s "Farm to Fork" strategy, which aims to build a more sustainable European agriculture and food system. Importantly, it highlights the potential for a truly circular bio-based economy in which advanced bio refineries produce bio energy, protein feed for animals, sustainable fertilizers and bio-chemicals. This could open further competition to the U.S. export market. There were no trades posted in the overnight electronic session. The July contract settled at 1.200 and is currently showing 1 bid @ 1.160 and 1 offer @ 1.260 with Open Interest at 72 contracts.
Yesterday's API data left traders scratching their heads. The data was a mixed bag of tricks. Crude stocks rose 3.857M, while Cushing, Oklahoma declined 3.289M, Gasoline stocks rose 4.267M and distillates only rose 919 thousand. We will get a refresher course a little later this morning with the EIA weekly inventory data. With volatility the new norm heading into expiration, our risk department wants us to roll to August today, with July option expiration. In the overnight electronic session the August contract is currently trading at 3824 which is 41 points lower. The trading range has been 3901 to 3748.
The natural gas market is trying to gather some legs, with hot weather forecast the next two weeks. Still, very indecisive trade, as bulls looking to buy value are tired of getting run over. July natural gas is currently trading at 1.619 which is a half of a cent higher. The trading range has been 1.639 to 1.602.