We started off the day with Chicago Fed National Activity Index at 7:30 A.M., Export Inspections at 10:00 A.M., 3-Month & 6-Month Bill Auction at 10:30 A.M., and 20-Year Bond Auction at 12:00 P.M.

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On the Corn front, exports remain the hot topic in this market. Thursday’s Export Sales had a bullish surprise for corn and soybeans. Greg McBride with Allendale was quoted, “It was a surprise for corn, beans, and wheat this week.” New crop sales are coming as a big surprise as well to the market. We also saw a big move from unknown destinations to China for soybeans to a tune of 900,000 metric tons, and that is very big. The federal government will be closed on Christmas Eve so Export Sales will be released Wednesday morning. In the overnight electronic session, the March corn is currently trading at 435 ½ which is 2 cents lower. The trading range has been 440 to 430 ¼.

On the Ethanol front, Erica Quinlan report, policy advocates and fuel retailers are promoting higher blends of ethanol and biodiesel. Nathaniel Doddridge, vice president of fuels for Casey’s, headquartered in Ankeny, Iowa, said the immediate future for biodiesel is strong. Casey’s has 2,200 locations-of which more than half are in towns with 5,000 people or less. “We’ve grown our fuel footprint,” Doddridge said. “Were at 300 locations now nationwide for E15 and over 1,000 locations for biodiesel. Were surrounded by soybeans and corn so it makes sense for us to blend these two together and say, why can’t we be on the forefront of having higher blends?” Doddridge said Casey’s is adding more stores, many in the heart of rural America. “we will sell higher blends of ethanol and biodiesel at every store we open,” he said. There were no trades posted in the overnight electronic session. The January ethanol settled at 1.320 and is currently showing 1 bid @ 1.250 and 2 offers @ 1.400 with Open Interest at 32 contracts.

On the Crude Oil front, we have Last Trading Day on the January contract so we will rollover to February as spot month. Even with India buying crude with both hands and China stepping up again, the market fears all the headlines of a fast-spreading new coronavirus strain in the United Kingdom that is raising concerns of tighter restrictions on travel there and in other European countries, stalling a recovery in the global economy and it’s need for fuel. Also, funds are heavily long and that could set the stage for a large selloff, with heavy longs liquidating after Friday’s higher close on Friday for the seventh straight week. Also, the stronger U.S. dollar is driving down demand for the dollar-denominated asset. In the overnight electronic session, the February crude oil is currently trading at 4762 which is 162 points lower. The trading range has been 4932 to 4625.

On the Natural Gas front, we are seeing positive headlines that could rekindle some bull’s fire. We are expecting a dose of cold weather and snow, which these factors should be good for demand and should be great news for producers. In the overnight electronic session, the January natural gas is currently trading at 2.675 which is 2 ½ cents lower. The trading range has been 2.730 to 2.632.