Coronavirus Has Markets Edgy
Good Morning!
We kickoff the day with Jobless Claims at 7:30 A.M., CB Leading Index MoM at 9:00 A.M., EIA Gas Storage at 9:30 A.M., EIA Energy Stocks and Kansas Fed Manufacturing Index at 10:00 A.M., 4&8-Week Bill Auction at 10:30 A.M., 10-Year Tips Auction at 12:00 P.M., Dairy Product Sales and Milk Production at 2:00 P.M. A total of three China cities have been shut down in a bid to contain the deadly virus. Also cancellations to Travel to China for the Lunar New Year rush is in full swing SWAT teams and paramilitary troops are guarding Wuhan’s train station, where metal barriers are blocking entrances. Normally, bustling streets, shopping malls, restaurants and other places were eerily quiet. Similar measures are expected in the nearby cities of Huan gang and Ezhou. Story contributed by Ken Moritsugu and Yanan Wang with AP. On the Grain front the market is taking a wait and see approach hoping we do not have a repeat of the deadly raspatory 2003 SARS and the 2012 MERS where 3-4 out of 10 cases ended in death. No approved vaccines for the Coronavirus at this time. In the overnight electronic session the March Corn is currently trading at 389 ¼, which is a ½ of a cent lower. The trading range has been 389 ¾
To 388 ¼.
On the Ethanol front there were no trades posted in the overnight electronic session. The March contract settled at 1.343 and is currently showing 1 bid @ 1.331 and 1 offer @ 1.357 with Open Interest at 362 contracts.
On the Crude Oil front bearish inventory numbers and the Coronavirus are slumping the market. Last night’s API came out with builds in Crude Oil of 1.6 million barrels, Gasoline +4.5 M, Distillates +3.5 M and Cushing -.429. We will see travel diminish to China with cancellations in flights (etc) which should pressure the market until we get to the bottom of this. In the overnight electronic session the March Crude Oil is currently trading at 5574, which is 100 points lower. The trading range has been 5627 to 5527.
On the Natural Gas front the market has popped for the short-term cold weather and snow. But this may be short-lived with weather modules pointing to a warmer than average February. The Thomson Reuters weekly poll with 17 analyst participating estimate withdrawals ranging from 115 bcf to 84 bcf with the median 90 bcf and actual 91 bcf. In the overnight electronic session the February natural Gas is currently trading at 1.965, which is 6 cents higher. The trading range has been 1.972 to 1.913.
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Have a Great Trading Day!