We kicked off the day with Challenger Job Cuts at 6:30 A.M., ADP Employment Change at 7:15 A.M., Initial Jobless Claims, Continuing Jobless Claims, and Jobless Claims 4-Week at 7:30 A.M., S&P Global Composite PMI Final and S&P Global Services PMI Final at 8:45 A.M., EIA Natural Gas Storage at 9:30 A.M., EIA Energy Stocks at 10:00 A.M., 4-Week & 8-Week Bill Auction at 10:30 A.M., 15-Year & 30-Year Mortgage Rate at 11:oo A.M., Dairy Products Sales at 2:00 P.M., and LMI Logistics Managers Index Current.

Photo by Waldemar on Unsplash

Grains are slightly lower in the overnight session. After near to above normal rainfall with seasonal temperatures in North Central Brazil, algorithms, bear’s and hedge funds kept the shovels digging, in weak volume. Tuesday’s open chart gap and break below October harvest low in soybean futures cast a bearish pale across the CBOT as fund managers entered their 1^st soybean short position since the depth of the pandemic in 2020. “KATY BAR THE DOOR!” Soybeans have been the bullish lynchpin of the CBOT on tight old crop stocks and need for an additional 3-4 Mil acres in 2024 to feed an expanding US crush industry to renewable diesel. Wheat and corn have reluctantly followed their own bearish CHARTS which has elevated CBOT bearish sentiment to a multiyear high. To all my technician friends, I remind you, “there are many ships at the bottom of the sea…. And they had charts too….” The economy, weather in North & South America, and the geopolitical landscape are becoming more obviously critical in 2024. In the overnight electronic session the March corn is currently trading at 464 ¾ which is a ½ of a cent lower. The trading range has been 465 ½ to 464 ¼ .

On the Ethanol Front state-run media in China reported that a facility there has begun testing of production of ethanol through the use of coal, rather, than using crops such as corn or sugar cane to make the fuel. The plant in southeastern China is said to be the World’s Largest Ethanol-Producing Plant. Chinese officials said the goal is to use the country’s abundant coal resources, rather than vital food sources, to make ethanol while also reducing China’s need to import fuel. The Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), in a report on its website, wrote, “The new production route is vital for China’s food security, energy security and the chemical industry supply chain.” The US Dept. of Energy describes ethanol as a “renewable fuel” made from biomass, typically from corn grain. Ethanol is mixed with gasoline to oxygenate the fuel. The Chines proved again were not even close to playing on aneven playing field. Just look at China and India when Global Warming Conference, Zero carbon Emissions, carbon, coal, electric cars and no natural gas stoves? Somethings Awry! And the US Taxpayer has footed the bill way too long….. The countries in question, pay your fair share. There were no trades or open interest in ethanol futures, while coal futures still trade.

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