U.S.-China Trade Talks Moving Forward
Good Morning!
We kickoff the day with Jobless Claims at 7:30 A.M., EIA Gas Storage at 9:30 A.M., EIA Energy Stocks at 10:00 A.M. and Dairy Products Sales at 2:00 P.M. U.S. and Chines officials met and the plane was to scrap the hefty tariffs that China had imposed on American Grain. And the complex reacted in the overnight electronic session. Even with weak demand on U.S. Wheat with Russia and the Ukraine moving exports at a fine clip the March Wheat contract soared to highs over 10 cents. The Chinese move will benefit Corn and Soybeans while opening steady imports of Ethanol imports to that country. Other Grain products to mention a couple would be alfalfa and sorghum. The two sides meet again today to further make progress. The March Corn is currently trading at 377 ½, which is 6 ¾ cents higher. The trading range has been 378 ¼ to 370 ½.
On the Ethanol front we had activity on the top 3 steps last night with the glowing news on the trade talks. The March contract is currently trading at 1.337 which is .010 higher. The trading range has been 1.347 to 1.318. 20 contracts traded in this liquidating and Open Interest is dropping to 973 contracts. With rollovers coming expect more of the same with April Open Interest at 1,000 contracts. The March contract is currently showing 3 bids @ 1.339 and 1 offer 1.349.
On the Crude Oil front the market is giving back gains made in the overnight electronic session. A lot of factors are on the table with EIA Energy Stocks out at 10:00 A.M. and last night’s API data had two different numbers, But with weather we had in the last week we could see some disruptions. Other things we are looking at is sanctions on Venezuela and talk the waiver on sanctions are going to be history shortly. This will make the Russians and Saudi’s happy as they strive to bring prices up cutting production. This will make producers here at home happy as well. In the overnight electronic session the April Crude Oil is currently trading at 5702, which is 14 points lower. The trading range has been 5761 to 5696.
On the Natural Gas front we have a spike with the latest blast of winter. We also will have high fronts and low fronts fighting it out so we should see some more crazy weather with temperatures rising and falling in next couple of weeks. In the overnight electronic session the March Natural Gas is currently trading at 2.671, which is 3 ½ cents higher. The trading range has been 2.696 to 2.639.
Have a Great Trading Day!