Good Morning & Happy New Year!
It seems that some powers that be gave us a surprise changing the weather reports and created a large downward gap opening this holiday weekend, which certain protective sell stops were not elected. Unfortunately, we cannot demand an investigation or a recount. However, when reality settles in and this weather report will be proven wrong, this is only another buying opportunity. In the overnight electronic session the February Natural Gas is currently trading at 3.454, which is 27 points lower. The trading range has been 3.568 to 3.401 and when volume picks up caught short will feel the cold as Old Man Winter blesses us with his appearance.
On the Corn front the market is trading modestly higher with the market’s dilemma of weighing the South American crop and the U.S. crop with exports. Even with a big spike in exports versus last year we still have plenty of products to move and a continued strong U.S. dollar will only make importers look to the U.S. market as a secondary market. In the overnight electronic session the March Corn is currently trading at 352 ½, which is a ½ of a cent higher. That range has been 354 to 351 ½.
On the Ethanol front the February contract posted a trade at 1.556, which is .001 of a cent higher. Three contracts traded at that price and the Open Interest is growing to 3.847 contracts traded.
On the Crude Oil front the market achieved $55 a barrel in the overnight electronic session and is on its way to $60 a barrel before you know it. When we have Thursday EIA Gas Storage and EIA Energy Stocks we can be in for a rude awakening as far as supplies for this winter. In the overnight electronic session the February contract is currently trading at 5492 which is 120 points higher. The trading range has been 5524 to 5391.