On the last day of the month there are plenty of reports scheduled today. Starting with the weekly Export Sales, Initial Jobless Claims at 7:30 A.M. followed with Chicago Purchasing Managers Index at 9:00 A.M. EIA Gas Storage at 9:30 A.M. and the much anticipated Grain Stocks and Planted Acreage at 11:00 A.M. The grain complex is trading higher in the overnight electronic session. Today is First Notice Day on July Grains so you MUST liquidate or rollover to the next contact month before the you receive a delivery receipt. In the overnight electronic session the September corn is currently trading at 378 ¾, which is 1 cent higher. The trading range has been 382 ¼ to 378 ½ so far. All eyes will be on Grain Stocks on hand, Acreage and weather will be crucial in the coming weeks.
On the Ethanol front there were no trades posted in the overnight electronic session. The July contract settled at 1.600 and is currently showing a mixed bag of tricks in the overnight electronic session with 2 bids @ 1.577 and 1 offer @ 1.750, which is way too wide of a spread for fair value.
On the Crude Oil front the market the August Crude Oil hit a psychological high of $50 a barrel and has been selling off that critical resistance even after bullish inventory reports Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. I still predict demand will be on the rise despite Brexit. Take into account disruptions in Oil supplies in Canada and Nigeria. Strike talks in Norway, strikes in Nigeria and Kuwait. And the government of Venezuela cannot pay workers to take the oil out of the ground and export product due to government corruption. And Oil exports are more than %50 of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In the overnight electronic session the August Crude Oil is currently trading at 4908, which is 80 points lower. The trading range has been 4962 to 4904 and may have more of a slide before the letter goes to print. However, heading into the long 4th of July weekend, I would not want to be short and would be bidding at 4840 and be buying with both hands at that level.
On the Natural Gas front we have the weekly EIA Gas Storage report today and the Thomson Reuters poll of 21 analysts see injections anywhere from 37 bcf to 54 bcf. The estimates are compared to builds of 62 bcf last week, 73 bcf the same week last year and the five-year average of 78 bcf. We have had record power demand we have not seen since 2010 and the retirement of Coal and Nuclear plants will take a supply toll on the power grid as we are exporting product to Mexico and normally Natural Gas is more of a domestic commodity. I expect upcoming shortages very soon. In the overnight electronic session the August Natural Gas is currently trading at 2.878, which is 1 ½ of a cent higher. The trading range has been 2.897 to 2.853.