Busy Day at Bedrock
Good Morning!
On a full moon and the last day of January we will be busy with several reports today, Wednesday's and Friday’s Unemployment reports. The Stock Market seemed to have been impressed with President Trump’s State of the Union Address and if the FED is dovish we could be hitting on all cylinders again. Along with the FED decision we have earnings with Boeing leading the way. At 7:30 A.M. we have Employment Cost Index, at 9:00 A.M. Chicago Purchasing and Manufacturing Index, at 9:30 A.M. we have EIA Energy Stocks, at 2:00 P.M. Cattle and Dairy Product Sales. Investors will keep a keen eye on the mood of Central Banks in Asia, Europe and the FED. On the Corn front Argentina’s drought is hurting Corn yields. Chief of Staff Santiago del Solar was quoted, “The drought had an impact on early planted Corn, particularly during the silking stage around Christmas time, when you travel around you can see that. Late-planted Corn could get some rains that could help.” Reported by Hugh Bronstein and Maximiliano Rizzi of Thomson Reuters. If La Nina starts drought conditions during our growing season here in the U.S. we could see exports pick up and get away from the 250, which has been like the movie Ground Hog Day last year and into 2018. In the overnight electronic session the March Corn is currently trading at 360, which is 1 ½ of a cent lower. The trading range has been 362 to 359 ¾.
On the Ethanol front Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said on Tuesday that his agency hopes to decide soon on whether it has the legal authority to issue a national waiver on selling motor fuel with 15% Ethanol during the summer months.” The process internally to determine the legal authority continues, I am hopeful that we will have a conclusion on that soon ,” Administrator Pruitt told a Senate hearing. Ethanol producers in the U.S. hope to be allowed to sell the higher level of Ethanol, known as e15. Reported by Timothy Gardner Thomson Reuters. In the overnight electronic session the March contract is currently trading at 1.387, which is .003 of a cent lower. The trading range has been 1.390 to1.387. 3 contracts changed hands and the market is currently showing 2 bids @ 1.385 and 1 offer @ 1.389 with Open interest at 1,842 contracts.
On the Crude Oil front last night’s API showed a bigger build that was anticipated on the Crude Oil contract with a builds at 3.229 million barrels, Gasoline builds at 2.692 million barrels, huge draws in Distillates at 4.096 million barrels and Cushing showed big draws of 2.383 million barrels, which should offset the build on the frontend of Crude Oil and is not as bearish of a number one may think. And if the FED is dovish this market can turnaround head higher like the Stock Market with the U.S. dollar selling off. In the overnight electronic session the March Crude Oil is currently trading at 6413, which is 37 points lower. The trading range has been 6425 to 6367.
On the Natural Gas front even with the cold weather approaching that has been forecasted because investors are not believing the independent forecasters any longer. The March contract is currently trading at 3.055, which is 14 cents lower. The trading range has been 3.183 to 3.022. Tomorrows Gas Storage and after February we will be in shoulder season and be in a trading chop until a much awaited heat wave
Have a Great Trading Day!