As we start the week, CBS Marketwatch had one of the best headlines, “Most un-fun bubble ever” isn’t like the other bubbles like the dot-com bubble. Today as Victor Reklaitis of CBS Marketwatch points out that today March 6th is the 8th anniversary of the markets Bull Run while fellow Reporter Shawn Langlois pointed out there was not a lot of participation from the overtaxed overregulated Joe Six Packs in the world that could fuel an economic recovery. Instead we had to suffer through one of the worst economic recoveries in U.S. history with GDP not able to gain ground and stay above 3%. It is a shame and should be rather obvious as we saw small businesses on the decline with “too much government”, regulations which held back small business’ to hire more people and put a cog in the economic motor.
On the Corn front we are gearing up for Thursday’s Crop Production USDA Supply/Demand report. A Bloomberg News survey of 22 analysts for the USDA world supply and demand have a range from anywhere from 217-223.1 metric tons with the average of 218.8 versus February at 217.6 and 2015-2016 210.4 metric tons. Argentina and Brazil are expected to have healthy crops going into the report. In the overnight electronic session the May Corn is currently trading at 381 ¾, which is 1 cent higher. The trading range has been 382 ¾ to 379 ½.
On the Ethanol front there were no trades posted in the overnight electronic session. The April contract settled at 1.514 and is currently showing 1 bid @ 1.511 and 1 offer @ 1.517 with Open Interest at 2,486 contracts. More bullish news for Ethanol China’s government pledged to dramatically slow Coal power. In his annual report delivered Sunday, Premier Li Keqiang said China would eliminate more than 50 gigawatts of coal power capacity. Which is the equivalent of more of the entire capacity of South Africa. Contributing this news flash Brian Spegele of CBS Marketwatch.
On the Crude Oil front we come in with a lower stock market and higher U.S. dollar, which is pressuring the market in the early going. Investors are still watching with great interest if OPEC toes the line and keeping production cuts fervent. In the overnight electronic session the April Crude Oil is currently trading at 5305, which is 28 points lower. The trading range has been 5338 to 5276.
On the Natural Gas front the market has done a turnaround with these 4 reasons atop of my head. First the heavy selling broke the markets back, producers capping production at these price levels, rig counts for Natural Gas were down on Friday and another cold weather report after this unseasonably warm weather. How far will this rally sustain itself? It will be weather permitting at this juncture of the week. In the overnight electronic session the April Natural Gas is currently trading at 2.927, which is 10 centts higher. The trading range has been 2.946 to 2.903.