We started off the day with Business Inventories, Retail Sales MoM (Jul), Unit Labour Costs QoQ Prel (Q2), Nonfarm Productivity QoQ Prel(Q2), Retail Sales Ex Autos MoM (Jul) at 7:30 A.M., Capacity Utilization YoY (Jul), Industrial Production YoY and MoM (Jul), Busines Inventories MoM (Jun), Michigan Current Conditions Prel (Aug), Michigan Inflation Expectations Prel (Aug), Michigan 5-Year InflationExpectations Prel (Aug), Michigan Consumer Sentiment Prel Aug) and Michigan Consumer Expectations Prel (Aug) at 9:00 A.M., And Baker Hughes Oil and Total Rig Count at 12:00 P.M.

On the Corn front, and the Grains China soybean demand soars while Minnesota reports are still banking on record yields. The latest updates on Monday’s storms extensive damage in the hardest-hit states Iowa and Illinois most affected by high winds keep coming in. There are certain spots that benefited from much-needed rain. Damage Control continues to sort out this blur of what corn stalks are a total loss or what yields the damage crop can produce. We do have many crop tours coming up in the next few weeks that could further our education of the strength or weakness of the crop. In the overnight electronic session, the December corn is currently trading at 337 ¼ which is 1 ½ of a cent lower. The trading range has been 338 to 335 ¾.

On the ethanol front, Pacific Ethanol which has been in the news lately with restructuring their business model for ethanol to be used as high-quality alcohol which can produce hand sanitizers and disinfectants. A great idea during the pandemic with ethanol for gasoline dropped with gasoline demand for the shut-in. Their profits increased dramatically but the company is also paying off debt as their shares rose to over $4 when the low was $0.81 and delisted temporarily on the NASDAQ Exchange. It look like shareholders couldn’t wait to bank their profits in yesterday’s action and took the money and ran with the stock down to $3.85. There were no trades posted in the overnight electronic session. The September ethanol settled at 1.230 and is currently showing 1 bid @ 1.230 and 1 offer @ 1.290 with Open Interest at 66 contracts.

On the Crude Oil front, Tsvetana Paraskova with OILPRICE.com reports that low-quality crude is just another crushing blow to Venezuelan oil exports. Their exports dropped significantly over the year because of U.S. sanctions. They have already suffered under the thumb of their state-run socialist regime that has crippled the richest economy in the southern hemisphere to the poorest. Slow loading and poor quality crude which saw Venezuelan oil exports plunge to the lowest in 80 years. Under the rule of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro they cannot even keep the lights on at home. This collapse was in the making even before the pandemic, Russia-Saudi Arabia oil price war and U.S. sanctions. As of this month, Venezuela no longer has any operational oil rigs after the last oil field services firm that was still drilling for oil in the country that holds the largest oil reserves in the world pulled it’s only rig out of service earlier this month. Socialism’s reality is a scary picture to paint. In the overnight electronic session the September crude oil currently trading at 4225 which is 1 tic higher. The trading range has been 4257 to 4177.

On the Natural Gas front, priced moved higher even with a higher than expected EIA Gas Storage number coming in at 58bcf. Tropical Storm Josephine has formed in the Atlantic but does not seem to be a threat to the Gulf of Mexico at the moment. Technically the market looks overbought with stochastics just shy of the hey 80 number at 79. But the fundamentals are driving this market with all of the acquisitions we have been seeing lately. It should becoming crystal clear to environmentalist to embrace natural gas. With less restrictive regulations this clean-burning will bring good clean energy in the future. In the overnight electronic session, the September natural gas is currently trading at 2.204 which is .022 higher. The trading range has been 2.215 to 2.171.