We kickoff the day with Challenger Job Cuts, the ADP Employment Change, the Trade Balance, Exports and Imports, Initial Jobless Claims, Jobless Claims 4-Week Average and Continuing Jobless Claims, EIA Natural Gas Storage, EIA Energy Stocks, 4-Week & 8-Week Bill Auction, two Fed speeches, by Waller and Bullard Speech and Dairy Products Sales.
On the corn Front, corn futures ended higher with September settling at 599 ¾. Funds were early sellers, and algorithm machines were swinging away in sell mode. Rain and high winds moved through parts of the Corn Belt this past week, flattening crops in some fields, while others were skipped. While some corn Ken Ferrie checked was snapped off, he reports most of the crop he saw was in better condition than he anticipated. “The top leaves that supply the plant during grain fill are still in the whorl, so they’re somewhat protected, based on the fields that his team saw,” Ferrie said, adding that “corn that blew down is going to cause some harvesting issues, but it will still have time to get both the tassel and ear upright before pollination.”
In the overnight electronic session, the September corn is currently trading at 614, which is 14¼ cents higher. The trading range has been 614½ to 601¼.
On the ethanol front, production for ethanol and renewable diesel expanded in April, while biodiesel capacity fell slightly. Capacity was at 17.34 MMgy when compared with the 17.323 in March. Meanwhile, UNICA, the Brazilian sugar cane industry association, has announced ethanol production picked up during the first half of June. However, production harvest season, is down compared with a year ago. We still have zero activity in ethanol futures.
On the crude oil front, last night’s API showed builds in crude oil +3.825M, Cushing +0.459 and draws in products gasoline -1.814M and distillates -0.635M. The market is gunning to push through $100 a barrel. As recession fears really cast a pall over commodities and crude oil was no different. In the overnight electronic session, the August crude oil is currently trading at 9946, which is 93 points higher. The trading range has been 9997 to 9657.
On the natural gas front, the market is picking up lost ground as well. The Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) poll, with 13 analysts participating, estimates ranged from injections of 68 bcf to 84 bcf, with the mean increase 75 bcf and hard number 74 bcf. This compares to the one-year injection of 49 bcf and the five-year-average injection of 66bcf. In the overnight electronic session, the August natural gas is currently trading at 5.761, which is 0.251 higher. The trading range has been 5.770 to 5.488.