Corn Plantings Down 10%
We start off the day with Consumer Confidence and New Home Sales at 9:00 A.M. Later in the day, at 3:30 P.M., we will have the API Energy Stocks. On the Corn front, yesterday’s Crop Progress showed a little improvement, but the totals are lagging behind. Corn plantings were seen at 7% complete. Analysts calculated the five-year average planting progress at this time at 14%. Corn exports showed a 9% increase versus last week. In May, Corn is currently trading 377 ½ which is 1 cent higher. The trading range has been 379 to 377. The weather is supposed to improve in the Mid-West with warmer and drier conditions and that will most certainly boost activity in the fields.
On the Ethanol front, the June contract posted a trade at 1.476 which is unchanged. The market is currently showing 2 bids at 1.476 and 1 offer at 1.498. The June Open Interest surpassed the May at 680 contracts versus 556.
On the Crude Oil front, the market is trading higher with 3 key reasons: record demand, geopolitical risk in the Middle-East, and tight supplies in the US, all of which should be reflected in the API data later in the day, unless there have been purchases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR’s). In the overnight electronic session, May Crude Oil is currently trading at 6892 which is 28 points higher. The trading range has been 6933 to 6877.
On the Natural Gas front, it just seems like this market wants to dump regardless of all the bearish sentiment, with producers swimming in supplies. In the overnight electronic session, the May contract is currently trading at 2.745 which is a ½ cent higher. The trading range has been 2.754 to 2.728.