Trade Deal Or No Trade Deal
Good Morning!
Challenger Job Cuts came in at 44.569 thousand with the previous 50.275 thousand. At 7:30 A.M. we have Export Sales, Jobless Claims and U.S. Trade Balance. Fed Quarles Testimony and Factory Orders at 9:00 A.M., EIA Gas Storage at 9:30 A.M. and the 4 & 8 – Week Bill Auction at 10:30 A.M. We are hearing whispers that Phase 1 of the U.S.-China Trade Deal is close to being signed and the Stock Market is reacting very positively. Even with Tiffany and Co. earnings came in dismal and underperformed the streets worse guesstimate. On the Corn front record high Brazilian plantings cooled prices in yesterday’s action. We will look at Export Sales this morning but I am still hanging onto my hat that the slow moving cash market may build some premium into futures prices. In the overnight electronic session the March Corn is currently trading at 378, which is a ½ of a cent lower. The trading range has been 379 ½ to 377 ¼.
On the Ethanol front there were no trades posted in the overnight electronic session. The January contract settled at 1.371 and is currently showing 2 bids @ 1.345 and 1 offer @ 1.375 with fluctuating Open Interest now at 499 contracts.
On the Crude Oil front bullish overall inventories and further OPEC production cuts on the table has rekindled the bulls stance on this market. And once again the International Energy Agency (IEA) is wrong pontificating a global Oil glut in their latest comments last week. I would like to say something new and different but it is the same old song like a broken record. In the overnight electronic session the January Crude Oil is currently trading at 5875, which is 32 points higher. The trading range has been 5885 to 5810.
On the Natural Gas the changing weather in the weather modules are adding to the volatility in the market. We also have the EIA Gas Storage data and the Thomson Reuters poll with 19 analysts participating estimate withdrawals ranging from 45 bcf to 8 bcf with the median 24 bcf and the street estimate of 22 bcf. This compares to the one-year withdrawal of 75 bcf and the five-year average draw of 68 bcf. In the overnight electronic session the January Natural Gas is currently trading at 2.434, which is 3 ½ cents higher. The trading range has been 2.444 to 2.396.
Have a Great Trading Day!