Morning Summary: As far as the grain and oilseed sector is concerned we are getting closer to anything meaningful being said about the markets. With that in mind, Thursday will likely be filled with talk of other markets. To begin [...]
Morning Summary: There is a lot of green showing across the commodity complex early Wednesday, a fact made more interesting by the US dollar index continuing to hold firm. The greenback extended this month’s rally to a high of 106.34 [...]
Morning Summary: Now that Monday is out of the way, the government data docket gets more full, starting with Tuesday’s August new-home sales and September consumer confidence. An interesting thing about the latter, one indicator is showing US consumer confidence [...]
Morning Summary: It was more of the same across the market landscape as we start another week. The US dollar index was quietly firmer, gaining as much as 0.18 overnight as it posted a high of 105.76. The greenback continues [...]
Morning Summary: Friday morning’s weather map shows most of the rain stretched across the US Plains, the system expected to come together and make its way eastward this weekend. While I don’t see anything critical in the forecast regarding harvest [...]
Morning Summary: Looking at the weather forecast, it’s supposed to be another warm one here in Omaha Thursday. Maybe that goes for where you are as well, as the summer of 2023 continues to linger, refusing to give ground to [...]
Morning Summary: I’m going to approach today’s Morning Commentary with a little less sarcasm than what I used yesterday afternoon. While I still don’t see that everything has magically turned bullish, there are some markets we need to keep an [...]
Morning Summary: Tuesday will see the beginning of the 2-day US Federal Open Market Committee meeting, culminating with Wednesday’s announcement on the US Fed fund rate. The discussion continues to ping-pong back and forth between another 25 basis-point rate hike [...]
Morning Summary: Looking back through my recent titles for Morning Commentary, I notice I’m starting to sound like a broken record[i]. Every morning it is the same thing, a discussion of how quiet markets were overnight and how low trade [...]
Morning Summary: After I typed out the title for Friday’s Morning Commentary – Silent Night – I realized it would be the second consecutive day of referring to a classic holiday song following Thursday’s Happy Xmas (War is Over) by [...]
Morning Summary: If the wheat sector supposedly rallied Wednesday because of “a new exchange of hostilities[i] in the Russo-Ukraine war…”, then why was wheat lower overnight through early Thursday morning? Is it as John Lennon sang about back in the [...]
Morning Summary: Tuesday had all the hubbub and hoo-hah expected, particularly in the grain and oilseed sector, but yet we still made it to the morning after. Overnight trade volume was moderate at best, particularly in corn, where some overnight [...]
Morning Summary: Yesterday at this time I talked about how quiet the commodity complex had been overnight. Those same markets must’ve taken in at as a challenge, saying “Hold my beer” before registering even less trade through early Friday morning. [...]
Morning Summary: The commodity complex in general was lower overnight through early Thursday morning with the only sector glowing green US Treasuries. Most sectors were mixed, like energies where natural gas and RBOB gasoline were showing small gains while distillates [...]
Morning Summary: I know most of the talk in the industry will be about how US soybeans rallied overnight due to NASS’ lower crop condition ratings. To the masses, it makes no difference those weekly numbers are completely fabricated. It’s [...]
Morning Summary: It’s early Tuesday morning, coming out of a US 3-day holiday weekend, and some markets saw solid changes in latitude overnight. The US dollar index started the week slightly weaker, dipping 0.13 points before adding as much as [...]
Morning Summary: Welcome to September 1, the first day of meteorological fall. Almost as if on cue, the US dollar index, aka the greenback, immediately turned red. Not by much, mind you, as it weakened by only 0.13 overnight and [...]
Morning Summary: Somehow it is the last day of August, which is also the last day of meteorological summer, the last day of the first quarter for wheat’s 2023-2024 marketing year[i], and the last day of the 2022-2023 marketing year [...]
Morning Summary: We've reached early Wednesday morning, Hump Day, the third day of the trading week and first day of the new positioning week for noncommercial traders (given data for the next round of CFTC Commitments of Traders reports was [...]
Morning Summary: Most markets posted a quiet overnight session highlighted by a little Turnaround activity through early Tuesday morning. Notable sectors were US stock index futures where Monday’s higher close was followed by red numbers pre-dawn, and similar activity in [...]
Morning Summary: It was a quiet overnight session, generally speaking, with natural gas the outlier through early Monday morning. The Widow Maker gained as much as 11.6 cents (4.6%) early before settling into a 3% gain as of this writing. [...]
Morning Summary: A look at the quote screen early Friday morning shows us markets are similar to what we’ve seen pre-dawn many times this summer. The US dollar index was showing continued strength while the commodity complex was mostly higher. [...]
Morning Summary: There were no new headlines overnight through early Thursday morning, at least none that would spark the type of buying seen in commodities to close out Wednesday’s session. The latest out of Russia is the Wagner warlord Prigozhin [...]
Morning Summary: The commodity complex in general didn’t do much overnight with the biggest moves posted by palladium (up 1.7%) and coffee (up 1.4%). On the downside we find soybeans (1.2%) and gasoline (1.3%). A look at the Barchart Futures [...]
Morning Summary: A number of markets were showing quiet Turnaround activity from Monday’s session, though the key word in the sentence is “quiet”. Recall the US dollar index moved into the red late Monday, and overnight through early Tuesday morning [...]
Morning Summary: Monday’s weather forecast shows much of the US Plains and Midwest are expected to stay hot and dry, with an emphasis on the word “Hot”. Temperatures soared over the weekend with no relief in sight through the end [...]
Morning Summary: While I don’t view USDA’s monthly Cattle on Feed reports as the alpha and the omega of reports, they are useful for confirming what we already know about the live cattle market through other fundamental reads (basis, futures [...]
Morning Summary: Those of us who have been around the grain and oilseed sector long enough are familiar with the old canard “Oats knows where Corn goes”. Over the decades I’ve not found this to be true, consistently, meaning if [...]
Morning Summary: It’s often interesting the difference 24 hours can make. Yesterday in this space I was talking about how nearly every market sector was in the red. A look at the Barchart Futures Market Heat Map this morning shows [...]
Morning Summary: A look at the Barchart Futures Market Heat Map early Tuesday morning shows nearly every market sector in the red. The outlier, as far as the commodity complex goes, is softs, though an asterisk needs to be attached. [...]
Morning Summary: As I was tracking the news this weekend, the headlines were similar to what we’ve seen before. Ukraine is reportedly making progress with its counteroffensive against Russian troops while the Black Sea remains largely non-navigable. The one little [...]
Morning Summary: Well, we’ve reached Friday, another USDA report day for all of us in agriculture. As you know, unlike the majority of the industry I don’t get excited about these things. I’ve long argued USDA, or any branch of [...]
Morning Summary: We’ve reached the point in the week when government numbers move front and center into the spotlight. As you can guess, this isn’t my cup of tea, but perhaps something stronger at the end of the week will [...]
Morning Summary: Grain and oilseed markets were sleeping in Wednesday morning, possibly gearing up for what is expected to be an active end of the week. A look at the radar shows more storms rumbling across Kansas and Iowa, though [...]
Morning Summary: There’s an old maritime warning that says something to the effect of, “Red sky in the morning, sailor’s warning”. Over the years I’ve borrowed this (and many other things) for markets, coming up with, “Red screen in the [...]
Morning Summary: Early Monday morning shows the commodity complex to be generally mixed, with the only one-sided sectors being Treasury futures and metals. Both were in the red and not overly surprising given the renewed strength of the US dollar [...]
Morning Summary: The first thing I did when I saw grains were higher early Friday morning was check the latest headlines from Ukraine. This time around the major story is of a Russian navy vessel listing off one of its [...]
Morning Summary: It was a much quieter night across the commodity complex, though Thursday morning finds the situation similar to Wednesday afternoon. Recall from yesterday’s Afternoon Commentary when there wasn’t a single sector in the green. A look at Thursday [...]
Morning Summary: It seems the flip of the calendar page following Monday’s session has markets confused. Overnight through early Wednesday morning we are seeing activity more akin to what tends to happen on Tuesday, with a number of markets moving [...]
Morning Summary: That same Leo the Lion that took over Monday’s session in the grain and oilseed sector rested comfortably on the equivalent of Pride Rock overnight through early Tuesday morning. Trade volume was quiet, for the most part, though [...]
Morning Summary: If the title of this morning’s piece has you wondering if I have time traveled back almost 3 months, the answer is no. Instead, I’m referring to how markets were driven overnight through early Monday morning by a [...]
Morning Summary: Do I think markets will make limit moves Friday? No, though there is the outside chance orange juice hits its 10 cents per pound daily limit. Which direction? Give how overbought the market is, maybe both. I’ll be [...]
Morning Summary: As I’ve talked about many times in the past, I am fully behind members of the Fed laying out the game plan for interest rates well in advance. We saw what happened Wednesday afternoon following the latest 25 [...]
Morning Summary: According to financial television gurus, global investors are gnashing their collective teeth in anticipation of what the US Federal Open Market Committee announces Wednesday afternoon regarding interest rates. Of course, this comes after the Dow Jones Industrial Average [...]
Morning Summary: While the grain and oilseed sector seems to be down with a mild case of Turnaround Tuesday, it gives us a chance to turn our attention away from Ukraine and weather for a moment. In other news, the [...]
Morning Summary: When I turned in Sunday night, the grain and oilseed sector was sitting near where it had opened with corn and soybeans both up about 7 cents and wheat fractionally higher. A few hours of slumber later and [...]
Morning Summary: The latest news from the Black Sea region is of bombs continuing to fall on Ukraine’s port and grain storage facilities. One of the more frequently asked questions this week is, Why? Why would the Madman Across the [...]
Morning Summary: As has become customary these days, the first thing I did Thursday morning was Google “Ukraine” to find the latest attacks by Russia. This time around, though, the internet was oddly quiet with most of the chatter still [...]
Morning Summary: The first thing I noticed when I fired up the quote screen Wednesday morning was corn had gained another 20 cents and Chicago (SRW) wheat was posting a rally of 26.0 cents. All I had to do was [...]
Morning Summary: While the cartoon character Garfield the Cat was well-known for his dislike of Mondays, given the tendency to see Turnaround Tuesday activity he must’ve been a fan of the second day of the week. We also know good [...]
Morning Summary: The first news item I saw Monday morning was a piece from MarketWatch with the teaser, “Russia says it’s withdrawing from the Black Sea grain deal”. I know there has been a loud chorus all singing the same [...]
Morning Summary: The commodity complex was mixed pre-dawn with grains, energies, and softs mostly in the green while US stock index futures, US Treasuries, and metals were mostly in the red. The market tying them all together – the US [...]
Morning Summary: Thursday should see a quieter day play out, particularly in the grain and oilseed sector. When all Wednesday’s shouting and explaining was done, the key takeaway was nothing had changed in the five major markets we talk about [...]
Morning Summary: As one who used to study statistics I can tell you there is a great deal of wisdom in what Mark Twain had to say on the subject, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and [...]
Morning Summary: A look at the quote screen early Tuesday morning shows us more of the same from Monday’s close. Mostly. This time around the exception is the wheat sector, though it’s still early. The US dollar index was under [...]
Morning Summary: Just as we closed out last week with a number of possible reasons why the grain and oilseed sector was under pressure, so to do we start this week with questions as to the quick rally in the [...]
Morning Summary: As we pour our next cup of coffee early Friday morning, we can start looking ahead at weekend weather forecasts. The National Weather Service is looking for much of the US Plains and Midwest to see cool temperatures [...]
Morning Summary: A look at the Barchart Futures Market Heat Map early Thursday morning showed us most market sectors were in the red, cumulatively, led by US stock index futures with a loss of 0.5%. This was followed closely by [...]
Morning Summary: Similar to last Friday’s session, Sunday night through Monday morning belonged to the oilseed sector. I’ll talk about it in more detail shortly, but a quick summary of the Barchart Futures Market Heat Map pre-dawn shows the three [...]
Morning Summary: It’s June 30, meaning we’ve made it to the end of another month. Here in the US this first month of meteorological summer has seen drought and floods, sometimes in the same place, all while an earlier than [...]
Morning Summary: If nothing else, we can say the grain and oilseed sector survived Wednesday’s selling onslaught with markets quietly higher the morning after. Where these same markets close this afternoon remains anyone’s guess, and I’m sure the airwaves will [...]
Morning Summary: A check of the various market sectors shows it was a quiet night through early Wednesday morning, the first one this week. I didn’t see many market-moving headlines, with most of the talk having to do with our [...]
Morning Summary: I know one of the questions I’ll be asked during my appearance on RFD-TV later this morning will be why new-crop corn and soybeans fell so hard overnight following the latest round of make-believe crop condition numbers from [...]
Morning Summary: Well, we made it through another weekend and the Madman Across the Water (Putin) has not been heard from since the events in Russia Friday and Saturday. This is both a positive and a negative. Positive in that [...]
Morning Summary: Things associated with the color green[i] had the grain and oilseed sector back in the red early Friday morning. Let’s start with the 48-hour weather map from the National Weather Service and NOAA (see attached) that shows some [...]
Morning Summary: As I looked at the Barchart Futures Market Heat Map Wednesday morning, two things jumped out at me. Soybean meal was showing the strongest gain with the July issue up 3% while soybean oil was the weakest with [...]
Morning Summary: A look at Tuesday morning’s Barchart Futures Market Heat Map shows us something we haven’t seen for a while: All commodity sectors that trade overnight are in the red. Metals led the way down with copper the hardest [...]
Morning Summary: The fun continued overnight, at least in the grain and oilseed sector of the commodity complex. Otherwise, it was a rather quiet evening and early morning ahead of another US 3-day holiday weekend[i] with the US dollar index [...]
Morning Summary: A look at Thursday morning’s Barchart Futures Market Heat Map shows us most sectors of the commodity complex are back in the green. However, there are a few outliers, most notably metals. Here we July silver dropped as [...]
Morning Summary: Markets in general seem to be ready for the announcement from US Fed Chairman Powell on the next interest rate move Wednesday afternoon. As has been the case for more than a year, there was plenty of front-running [...]
Morning Summary: What makes today, Tuesday the 13th so lucky? Nothing, there’s just no reason Friday should have all the fun. There are a number of items on the docket Tuesday, most notably the release of the May Consumer Price [...]
Morning Summary: A look at Monday morning’s Barchart Futures Market Heat Map shows nearly all commodity complex sectors have gone green to start the week. It’s interesting to note this time around the calendar the outlier is energies. This after [...]
Morning Summary: More often than not, what happens during overnight sessions isn’t all that important. However, in the grain and oilseed sector the night before a round of monthly USDA supply and demand silliness, as Richard Marx would say, “Don’t [...]
Morning Summary: The commodity complex in general Thursday morning looked similar to how we left if Wednesday afternoon, with one difference being the US dollar index was under pressure this time around. There is getting to be more chatter about [...]
Morning Summary: The commodity complex continued its dance overnight, with markets making moves but not really going anywhere. A look at Wednesday morning’s Barchart Futures Market Heat Map shows nearly every sector to be in the green, based on nearby [...]
Morning Summary: After running the traps of the commodity complex early Tuesday morning, a number of them stood out to me. But none could take the spotlight off boxed beef with choice reported at $314.19 (per 100 pounds), up $4.26 [...]
Morning Summary: There was a lot going on this past weekend, the first weekend of summer which makes the generally subdued commodity complex that much more interesting. I talked about the latest OPEC+ announcement in Sunday night’s Quick Take, and [...]
Morning Summary: It’s good timing when the first day of meteorological summer is immediately followed by the first Friday of the new season. That’s where we find ourselves this morning, meaning the grain and oilseed sector could be driven by [...]
Morning Summary: It seems all it took to bring buyers back to the commodity complex was a turn of the calendar page from May to June. Of course this also means we’ve moved from meteorological spring to meteorological summer, and [...]
Morning Summary: Wednesday morning’s Barchart Futures market heat map shows a lot of red once again. In fact, the only commodity sectors that trade overnight not showing some shade of crimson is financials and metals. On the financial side, US [...]
Morning Summary: How many of you remember the Canadian Public Television program “The Red Green Show”? it was hilarious (at least in my opinion), and for some reason I was reminded of it as I looked at the grain sector [...]
Morning Summary: It seems the commodity complex is not entirely sure what to make of the ongoing US debt-ceiling drama. However, if we use metals as a somewhat reasonable measure, we see gold continues to move lower while copper finds [...]
Morning Summary: A check of early Wednesday headlines shows me not much has changed on the US debt-ceiling drama. Given that, and the recent financial news analysis of the situation, we should expect the US dollar to either weaken or [...]
Morning Summary: We all know the drill by now. Markets post a strong rally to open the week, only to find renewed selling overnight through – you guessed it – Turnaround Tuesday morning. That was the case again this week [...]
Morning Summary: Recall how last Friday morning’s Barchart Futures Market Heat Map was all green, though we all remember markets didn’t end that way when the closing bell had sounded. This morning, we see most market sectors in the green, [...]
Morning Summary: There is something different about the commodity sector early Friday morning. A look at the latest Barchart Futures Market Heat Map and I see nothing but green, at least when it comes to the various sectors. The strongest [...]
Morning Summary: All I had to do early Thursday morning was take a look at the latest Barchart Futures Market Heat Map and I knew everything I needed to know about the overnight session. The commodity complex was consistent overnight [...]
Morning Summary: Checking the traps of the various market sectors early Wednesday morning, and a couple things stood out to me. First, the US dollar index was gaining strength. I’ll go back to the discussion in Tuesday’s Afternoon Commentary about [...]
Morning Summary: It’s early Tuesday morning, the day after Monday for those keeping track, bringing with it the usual possibility of Turnaround activity in the markets. Pre-dawn shows us a number of examples in the commodity complex, most notably the [...]
Morning Summary: We are now into the second-half of the last month of spring, already feeling the warmth of summer shining on our faces. For the most part, at least across North America. It has become cliché, but one has [...]
Morning Summary: In just a few more hours, the grain and oilseed complex will be rid of the kidney stone that is the May USDA Supply and Demand report. While large commercial and noncommercial traders pay little attention to this [...]
Morning Summary: It’s not unusual for markets to be mixed early Thursday morning following noncommercial activity to close out the previous positioning week on Tuesday and start the new week with fresh activity Wednesday. A look at the pre-dawn Barchart [...]
Morning Summary: Similar to Tuesday morning, the early Wednesday Barchart Futures Market Heat Map is showing a lot of colors, with few of them green. The only commodity sector showing a gain is livestock, due to the three major markets [...]
Morning Summary: A look at the Barchart Futures Market Heat Map early Tuesday shows most sectors and individual markets to be in colors other than green. Only financials (US Treasury futures) were showing a cumulative gain, a fact made more [...]
Morning Summary: Much of the US Midwest saw rain this past weekend, so much so it’s likely not a lot of planting progress was made across the heart of the Corn Belt. Additionally, rains were still falling this Monday morning [...]
Morning Summary: The stars aligned this year so that Jobs Friday, the April employment numbers, coincide with Cinco de Mayo. For what it’s worth, and it isn’t much, one set of pre-report guess on April jobs came in at an [...]
Morning Summary: We can’t read much into any overnight session, but particularly one following a day like Wednesday. What can happen after a vacuum session is trade starts to stabilize, to find an equilibrium between buy and sell orders, sometimes [...]
Morning Summary: Markets are waiting to see what the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC, the Fed) does with interest rates this afternoon, at least according to the talking heads of financial media. The reality is most who actually listen [...]
Morning Summary: The first news I saw this morning was music legend Gordon Lightfoot had passed away. I’ve listened to Mr. Lightfoot’s songs since I was a kid, so as my way of thanking him for the memories I’ll be [...]
Morning Summary: Another May Day has arrived meaning it is the first day of the last month of the 2023 spring season. As old folks like me like to ask, where has the year gone? After I posted last night’s [...]
Morning Summary: The US dollar index has been all over the place this week. After consolidating last week, the greenback dropped as much as 0.57 Monday before rallying 0.70 off its Monday low through Tuesday’s high. Along the way, the [...]
Morning Summary: Overnight trade was a quiet place through early Tuesday morning, with seemingly not a creature stirring, not even a mouse. This seems odd to me, not only because a number of markets made large moves Monday but because [...]
Morning Summary: Markets in general were relatively quiet coming out of a late spring weekend. I’ll talk about some of the implications for the grain and oilseed complex, with the key being a weekend freeze ahead of another rain event. [...]
Morning Summary: As most of you know, I had the privilege of working in one of the top ag media newsrooms for more than a decade. This provided me with all the latest news, important or not, that could make [...]
Morning Summary: National radar early Thursday morning shows a large thunderstorm system has made its way from Kansas and Nebraska into Missouri and Iowa. From a personal point of view, listening to the storm roll through here in Omaha was [...]
Morning Summary: I know I’ve used the phrase “Red screen in the morning, traders take warning” in the past, but I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a morning like this one. A look at the Barchart Futures Market Heat [...]
Morning Summary: Early Tuesday morning finds most markets in a similar position as to 24 hours ago, with a glaring difference being the US dollar index. The greenback was under pressure overnight, weakening as much as 0.46 and sitting within [...]
Morning Summary: Here we are, the first trading day of the second half of spring, and weather has moved into the spotlight. This past weekend saw winter-like conditions across much of the US Plains and Midwest, with sub-freezing temperatures seen [...]
Morning Summary: Heading home Thursday evening, I made a note to myself to check on the US dollar index overnight. Yesterday saw the greenback get within sight of its February low of 100.82, hitting a mark of 100.85, and given [...]
Morning Summary: After running the traps of the commodity complex early Thursday morning, it’s easy to see the spotlight remains on boxed beef. The choice market was reported Wednesday afternoon at $298.48 (per 100 pounds), up $3.38 from Tuesday’s reported [...]
Morning Summary: The Barchart Futures Market Heat Map is again showing a lot of green Wednesday morning. In fact, every sector that traded overnight is showing cumulative gains, with the only question being softs. Here we see four markets trade [...]
Morning Summary: A look at the Barchart Futures Market Heat Map first thing Tuesday morning shows nearly all market sectors in the green. The exception was energies, oddly enough, where pre-dawn losses in natural gas (0.6%) and distillates (0.9%) were [...]
Morning Summary: There are mornings when what I see on the quote screen has me wondering if my computer stopped working overnight. Contracts that are usually somewhat busy show little price change from when I shut things down and no [...]
Morning Summary: This is your reminder that Thursday is the last trading day of the week, meaning this morning is the beginning of the end. For this week, anyway. A look at the commodity complex shows a similar picture to [...]
Morning Summary: A look at the Barchart Futures Market Heat Map early Wednesday morning shows a lot of red. The only two commodity sectors showing cumulative gains were softs and metals, with the latter being the more significant given all [...]
Morning Summary: I struggled a bit to come up with a title for Tuesday morning’s commentary given there wasn’t much change to markets overnight. The US dollar index was under pressure, just as it was late in Monday’s session, while [...]
Morning Summary: As you know, I find market Chaos interesting (the real kind, not the manufactured manipulation kind seen during the previous US administration), and this past weekend gave us another example. Seemingly out of the blue, OPEC+ announced production [...]
Morning Summary: We just passed one of the most meaningless night sessions for the grain and oilseed sector, leaving us with a big bowl of nothing for breakfast Friday morning. While I will argue to my last breath the market [...]
Morning Summary: A look at the Barchart Futures Market Heat Map early Thursday morning shows a number of markets making small moves while a few markets make big moves. In the green we see May silver with a gain of [...]
Morning Summary: The overnight session turned out to be no big deal, for the most part, with a number of markets taking a pause before the next explosive move. The US dollar index was quiet as it posted a 0.35 [...]
Morning Summary: The overnight session was quiet for the most part, with traders still dreaming of big things to come. The most consistent sector was US Treasury futures, with markets showing various shades of red early Tuesday morning. This doesn’t [...]
Morning Summary: So far this month we have seen the beginning of meteorological spring (March 1) and the spring equinox (March 20). Economic data continued to roll in more bullish than expected, mostly on the employment front, while news of [...]
Morning Summary: As some of you may remember, the song “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas has a special meaning to me. I was reminded of it again when a friend from far southwest Kansas sent me the picture I [...]
Morning Summary: As I checked on the various market sectors early Thursday morning, I didn’t see much change in direction from Wednesday afternoon. The US dollar index was under pressure, falling as much as 0.53 overnight and extending the short-term [...]
Morning Summary: Late Tuesday afternoon I saw an update that stated the CFTC had caught up with its release of Commitments of Traders reports following the cyber-security issue from January. First, we have to keep in mind these reports are [...]
Morning Summary: Markets were generally quiet overnight, maybe out of respect for the meeting of self-proclaimed “dear friends” in Moscow. That was the main takeaway from China’s President Xi and Russia’s Putin, affirmation of their countries being “friendly neighbors” and [...]
Morning Summary: In all the talk about the banking meltdown last week, there was one group comparing it to a “contagion”. Given what the world has gone through the past 3 years, I thought it a fitting description, and as [...]
Morning Summary: As legendary newsman Kent Brockman of The Simpsons fame would say, “Top of the morning to ‘ye on this gray drizzly afternoon when everyone is a little bit Irish, except for…”. I’ll paraphrase a bit here, to bring [...]
Morning Summary: So far this week we’ve had a Manic Monday the 13th, Pi-e Day (3.14), and the Ides of March (Wednesday, March 15). Fittingly enough, we saw one of the Kings of Commodities go down as if assassinated yesterday [...]
Morning Summary: This being March 15, there were a couple ways I could go with Morning Commentary. The first is to borrow the warning to Caesar to “beware the Ides of March”, but that doesn’t work as well when folks [...]
Morning Summary: Welcome to another Turnaround Tuesday, with this week’s edition expected to show us which markets actually turn, even if for a day, and which ones sink like a stone. The US dollar index was showing a small gain [...]
Morning Summary: I had to double-check one of my charts first thing Monday morning. When I looked at the US dollar index I noticed it was down about 0.50, so I quickly turned to the greenback’s daily chart and it [...]
Morning Summary: A quick look at Friday morning’s Barchart Futures Market Heat Map shows a lot of red. The only sector in the green is financials, meaning US Treasury futures, as traders presumably await the February jobs data set for [...]
Morning Summary: The commodity complex was mostly in the green early Thursday following two days of solid selloffs. Let’s start with the US dollar index as the greenback is in the red pre-dawn. From a technical point of view the [...]
Morning Summary: The commodity complex was mixed early Wednesday morning following another quiet overnight session. The US dollar index was showing a small gain, this time around the clock accompanied by an equally small rally in US stock index futures. [...]
Morning Summary: I wasn’t necessarily surprised by how quiet markets were overnight given how manic Monday turned out to be. Nearly every market sector showed me the same thing Tuesday morning: Contracts posting small changes on low trade volume. What’s [...]
Morning Summary: The first thing that came to mind as I ran the traps of the various sectors in the commodity complex Monday morning was Benjamin Franklin. I haven’t gone through all the contracts of all the markets, but two [...]
Morning Summary: A look at the market landscape early Friday morning shows me all’s quiet on the commodity front. Well, maybe not all, as the metals sector posted a decent rally overnight. Here we see May silver leading the way [...]
Morning Summary: Running the traps early Thursday morning, and I largely came up empty. Sure, all the markets moved overnight but nothing jumped out at me as particularly newsworthy. The US dollar index was stronger as it continues to chop [...]
Morning Summary: It’s the first day of March meaning the first day of meteorological spring. As I was pulling charts this morning for Monthly Analysis, a few jumped out at me. First was natural gas as the spot-month contract came [...]
Morning Summary: We have reached the last day of February, the last day of meteorological winter. Today is also first notice day for delivery against March futures contracts and a look at the CME Registrar report early Tuesday shows some [...]
Morning Summary: I had to think a bit on what to title today’s Morning Commentary, but in the end basically came up with “Ditto Friday”. Markets were mixed then and mixed again this morning, with the grain and oilseed sector [...]
Morning Summary: The commodity complex was mixed pre-dawn Friday, almost as if traders were groggy from all the activity seen this US holiday-shortened week. Let’s start this morning with a look at the US dollar index, the greenback showing a [...]
Morning Summary: Wednesday evening I received a message from my friend and RFD-TV host Marlin Bohling. He had attached a Reuters news story with the lead, “Brazil to halt beef exports to China after mad cow disease case”. A couple [...]
Morning Summary: The Barchart Futures Market Heat Map is colourful early Wednesday morning, ranging from yesterday’s dark green livestock sector (these markets don’t trade overnight but still register on the map) to a bright red energies sector. In between we [...]
Morning Summary: We are reminded again Tuesday morning that markets are not localized, but global. We had a hunch soybeans and soybean meal would react to reports of Saturday morning frost across parts of Argentina, and the markets moved overnight. [...]
Morning Summary: Here we are, early Friday morning with a full day ahead of us until another 3-day US holiday weekend. While we have that to look forward to, something tells me Friday is going to make us work for [...]
Morning Summary: A look at the Barchart Futures Market Heat Map early Thursday morning shows most commodity market sectors are back in the green. Energies led the way as our old friend natural gas rallied as much as 7.8 cents [...]
