Floor Talk February 18

[Tony_Dreibus]

It's a hot topic right now. So, we put some meat on the bones of this cash rent issue.

Full story: Cash Rents Are Coming Due, Are You Ready?

Mike

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At 3:20pm:

On Thursday, Funds sold 6,000 corn contracts, 3,000 soybean futures and 5,000 wheat contracts.

Mike

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At the close:

At the close, the March corn futures settled 1 3/4 cents lower at $3.65 1/2. March soybean futures closed 2 3/4 cents lower at $8.79 3/4. 
March wheat futures settled 6 1/4 cents lower at $4.62 1/4. March soymeal futures finished $0.10 per short ton higher at $263.50. March soyoil futures closed $0.16 lower at $31.83.  
In the outside markets, the Brent Crude oil market is $0.16 lower per barrel, the U.S. dollar is higher, and the Dow Jones Industrials are 11 higher.

Mike

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At mid-session:

At mid-session, the March corn futures are trading 1/2 of a cent lower at $3.66. March soybean futures are 3/4 of a cent lower at $8.81. 
March wheat futures are trading 4 1/2 cents lower at $4.64. March soymeal futures are $1.10 per short ton higher at $264.70. March soyoil futures are trading $0.09 lower at $31.90.  
In the outside markets, the Brent Crude oil market is $0.06 lower per barrel, the U.S. dollar is higher, and the Dow Jones Industrials are 10 higher.

Jason Ward, Northstar Commodity Investment Co. grain analyst, says the markets are setting back from earlier up days.

"A little consolidation after some strong days this week, lead by the financial sector up 1,000 points from last Thursday’s low. So, a little breather in the financial markets stems the short covering we were seeing in corn/soy/wheat."

Mike

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At 10:45am:

The U.S. Grains Council talked about it at its annual meeting in Florida, this week. And the Energy Information Administration is confirming Thursday that U.S. ethanol stocks have hit another record-high.

This past week, Ethanol production jumped 6,000 barrels per day to 975,000 barrels per day, according to the EIA. Now, ethanol stocks have gone 262,000 barrels over the previous record to a fresh record of 23.22 million barrels.

Mike

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At 9:45am:

On Thursday, private exporters reported to the U.S. Department of Agriculture export sales of 106,162 metric tons of corn for delivery to Costa Rica during the 2015/2016 marketing year.

The marketing year for corn began Sept. 1.

Mike

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At the open:

At the open, the March corn futures are trading 1 1/4 cents lower at $3.66. March soybean futures are 4 cents lower at $8.78. 
March wheat futures are trading 3 1/2 cents lower at $4.65. March soymeal futures are $1.00 per short ton lower at $262.60. March soyoil futures are trading $0.07 lower at $31.92.  
In the outside markets, the Brent Crude oil market is $0.94 higher per barrel, the U.S. dollar is higher, and the Dow Jones Industrials are 7 higher.

Mike

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Good morning. 

Soybeans were slightly lower overnight as the benefits of rain in Brazil seem to be outweighing the delays it's causing. Wheat was mixed on uncertainty over whether Egypt is a good trading partner. 

At 6:15 am:

Early calls:

Soybeans 1-2 cents lower, corn unchanged to 1 lower and wheat 1 lower to 1 higher

Trackers:

Overnight soybeans lower, wheat mixed, corn little changed.

Brent Crude Oil = 2.1% higher.

West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil = 2.4% higher.

Dollar = down slightly.

Wall Street = Stock futures rise overnight as oil rises. 
World Markets = Global stocks improving on rebound in oil futures.

[Tony_Dreibus]

Oh and the export sales report is delayed until Friday due to Presidents Day on Monday. 

Watch out for ethanol inventories as they're at a record and are expected to climb in today's EIA report.