We kicked off the day with Export Sales, Building Permits (Feb), Housing Starts (Feb), Housing Starts MoM (Feb), Initial Jobless Claims (12/mar), Building Permits MoM (Feb), Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index (Mar), Philly Fed Business Conditions (Mar), Philly Fed CAPEX Index (Mar), Philly Fed Employment (Mar), Philly Fed New Orders (Mar), Philly Fed Prices Paid (Mar), Continuing Jobless Claims (05/Mar),

And Jobless Claims 4-Week Average (12/Mar) at 7:30 A.M., Industrial Production MoM & YoY (Feb), manufacturing Production MoM & YoY (Feb) and Capacity Utilization (Feb) 8:15 A.M., EIA Gas Storage at 9:30 A.M. and 4-Week & 8-Week Bill Auction at 10:30 A.M.

Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash

On the Corn Front we start off the day in the green for St. Patrick’s day. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy share the same nickname as President Ronald Reagan and with good reason. I am trying to call the 1980s to bring back our foreign policy as we dreamt of energy independence. The markets should also be on the rise with exports kicking in and as early as it is we our dry heading into planting season. The crop is not in the ground, however, farmers, producers and traders will be watching weather reports with a keen eye. Inn the overnight electronic session the May corn is currently trading at 739 ½ which is 9 ½ cents higher. The trading range has been 741 ½ to 728 ½.

On the Ethanol Front inventories rise through the week and were at the highest level since April 2020. Total ethanol production dipped 2,000 bpd to 1.026 million bpd, about 6% more than a year ago, while the four-week average output totaled 1.019 bpd from the prior four-week period. EIA showed PADD 3 ethanol stocks continued higher for the second week up 599,000 bbl to an eight-week low of 2.590 bbl. Overall domestic ethanol supply increased a second week, up 674,000bbl to 25.495 million bbl close to a two-year high. There were no trades or open interest in ethanol futures.

On the Crude Oil Front APRIL OPTION EXPIRATION is today and the market is trading on pure fundamentals. The market gets oversold and a vicious slap from volatility could more than whip-saw you. The world is watching how events unfold in Ukraine and how to help these people is priority #1. In the overnight electronic session the April crude oil is currently trading at 10144 which is 640 points higher. The trading range has been 10167 to 9485.

On the Natural Gas Front the market is rising like the food and energy sector. One answer is your higher energy bill in January had nothing to do with the Russians invading Ukraine. The war unleashed on oil companies unleashed a war on the Ukraine and inflation. Today we have the EIA Gas Storage and the Thomson Reuters poll with 13 analysts polled, estimates range for withdrawals ranging from 53 bcf to 87 bcf with the median 73 bcf. This compares to the one-year withdrawal of 29 bcf and the five-year average withdrawal of 62 bcf. In the overnight electronic session the April natural gas is currently trading at 4.894 which is up 1.046. The trading range has been 4.899 to 4.691.