Fed Chair Jerome Powell to Speak
Good Morning!
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell heads to Capitol Hill for two days of hearings on the state of the economy. Today he will testify to the Senate Banking Committee which should start at 8:45 C.S.T. and tomorrow before the House Financial Services Committee, which is controlled by Democrats for the first time in his tenure at the Fed since 2012. This reported by Nick Timiraos with The Wall Street Journal. Lawmakers are expected to grill Chairman Powell on rate decisions and financial regulation. And look who is in charge of the committee and who is on it should show we will have intriguing drama tomorrow with Maxine Waters and the new little darling AOC. Once again too much regulation always slows an economy and socialism dooms an economy like Venezuela. Today’s reports are Consumer Confidence and New Home Sales at 9:00 A.M. followed by API Energy Stocks at 3:30 P.M. On the geo-political front we have High Stakes in Hanoi with a summit with North Korea, the Noose tightening on Maduro in Venezuela, American hostage Oil worker recovered in Yemen, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javed Zarif resigns as hardliners unhappy with Nuke Deal that brought on U.S. sanctions followed, More fighting in Libya and India launching an Air-Strike on Pakistan fighting over Kashmir once again. Whew! Sounds like the Billy Joel song, “We didn’t Start the Fire!"
On the Corn front we are trading a tad lower as talks continue as Intellectual Property and balancing of currency remains a sticking point. China could increase their buying of U.S. Corn and Ethanol but they are only headlines and not fact that are offering resistance. Whispers of higher Corn supplies in the Ukraine and South America offered further resistance. We need positive deeds and not words in the China-U.S. talks. There are also stories that two more large outbreaks of the African Swine Flu have been spotted in China. If a deal is struck between China and the U.S. this should trump any bearish forces. In the overnight electronic session the March Corn is currently trading at 369 ½, which is 1 cent lower. The trading range has been 371 ¼ to 368.
On the Ethanol front the market is teetering on the trade news as well. In the overnight electronic session the April contract is currently trading at 1.355, which is .005 lower. The trading range has been 1.362 to 1.355. 3 contracts traded and Open Interest is at 1,201 contracts. The market is currently showing 1 bid @ 1.360 and 1 offer @ 1.365.
On the Crude Oil front with all of the geo-political factors around the globe and I am expecting draws in inventories in this afternoon's API Energy Stocks and we have rallied from the lows in the overnight electronic session. The April contract is currently trading at 5569, which is 21 points higher. The trading range has been 5576 to 5502. Hopefully, we will not have duel data on the API numbers last week that certain blogs released keeping investors sitting on their hands.
On the Natural Gas front the March contract expires today and forecast for another Arctic Blast or Polar Vortex this weekend is supporting prices. In the overnight electronic session the April contract is currently at 2.845 which is 3 cents higher. The trading range has been 2.848 to 2.810.
Have a Great Trading Day!