As Expected, Coronavirus Numbers Multiply
Good Morning!
We kickoff the day with Employment Cost Index and Personal Income at 7:30 A.M., Chicago PMI at 8:45 A.M., Michigan Consumer Expectations, Michigan 5-Year Inflation Expectations, Michigan Current Conditions and Inflation Expectations and Michigan Consumer Sentiment and finally the Baker Hughes Rig-Count at High Noon. The State Department on Thursday raised its Travel Advisory to China to “Level 4: Do not Travel,” citing the spread of the deadly coronavirus. The first human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus in the U.S. CDC confirms right here in the Chicago area. The patient’s wife recently returned from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the virus. Chicago’s China Town restaurants are feeling the impact of people fears as business’ are barren and the New Year Lunar parade on Saturday is expected to have a lot of no shows which is just a start of the slow down on this unexpected event until we grasp and have a handle on defeating this bug. On the Corn front the market has been trading sideways and in the overnight electronic session the March Corn is currently trading at 379 ¾, which is a ¼ of a cent higher. The trading range has been 382 ¾ to 378 ¾.
On the Ethanol front the March contract posted a trade at 1.360, which is unchanged in the overnight electronic session. The market is currently showing 1 bid @ 1.342 and 5 offers @ 1.360 with 1 contract changing hands and Open Interest climbing to 455 contracts.
On the Crude Oil front OPEC and non-OPEC countries are mulling further emergency production cuts to buoy prices. Whispers the decision may be made this weekend but if they want to shock the market to get the full effect I would think they would rather do it once and not twice. In the overnight electronic session the March Crude Oil is currently trading at 5231, which is 17 points higher. The trading range has been 5236 to 5216.
On the Natural Gas front the market is still heavy and the floor is not in sight yet. Temperatures are expected to rise over the weekend to 50 degrees Fahrenheit and back down to the 20’s and then reaching the 60’s after that. With this rollercoaster ride it is not good news for producers even this late in the light winter when normally supplies would have been exhausted. In the overnight electronic session the March Natural gas is currently trading at 1.839, which is 1 cent lower. The trading range has been 1.853 to 1.8123.
Have a Great Trading Day!