Good Morning!
The title says it all. Starting at 11:00 A.M. Gentleman Start your engines with Crop Production (+Annual), Grain Stocks, USDA Supply/Demand, and Winter Wheat Seeding’s. I really am not expecting much of a change in this report from others. Albeit a bullish surprise somewhere I would estimate Corn plantings will be down in spring. In the overnight electronic session the March corn is currently trading very quietly unchanged at 351 ¾ and a very thin trading range of 352 ½ to 351. Eerily quiet ahead of the report.
On the ethanol front there were no trades posted in the overnight electronic session. The February contract settled at 1.319 and is currently showing 2 bids @ 1.306 and 1 offer @ 1.319.
On the crude oil front the market is taking more heat with the Saudi’s talking more drilling and pumping and the China fears saturating the market. All in all the crude oil market did show resilience with all the bearish talk trying to coax the market down to $20 a barrel. With a lot gas and oil companies going into bankruptcy product will be scarce if demand remains high. All the oil in the world will not matter if you do not have the capacity to refine it. In the overnight electronic session the February crude oil is currently trading at 3146, which is 5 tics higher at this writing. The trading range has been 3160 to 3041. Will the higher stock market bring the bulls back at these price levels in crude? It could be a good possibility as Iran is doing everything in their power not to have the U.S. lift sanctions.
On the natural gas front the market seems to be pricing in the sayonara to the Arctic blast on Friday, which is the next front bringing in more moderate temperatures with rain and could start a melt off that could be bad news in flooded regions. In the overnight electronic session the February contract is currently trading at 2.345, which is .051 cents lower. The trading range has been 2.366 to 2.316.