We kicked off the first Friday of November with Unemployment which will include payrolls both private and public, earnings and the current unemployment rate at 7:30 A.M., Wholesale Inventories MoM (SEP) at 9:00 A.M., Baker Hughes Oil Rig and Total Rig Count (6/NOV) at 12:00 P.M., and awaiting Consumer Credit Change (SEP) at 2:00 P.M.

On the hurricane front, Tropical Storm Eta has hit the water again and churn the waters it may gain strength over the northwestern Caribbean Sea. The future cone has the storm track has a more imposing threat to the Gulf States moving westward. It currently has Louisiana in the sights now and passing the Yucatan peninsula the storm surge to the east and south Florida covered and it is like a vacuum effect in the Gulf of Mexico spreading west. We will have to keep our eyes on this storm.

On the corn front, great Export Sales numbers in corn and surprisingly a more excellent number on sorghum. Funds gladly stepped in enjoying the ride purchasing 7,000 corn. I expect harvest to continue at a rapid pace and if the crop is wet the elevator or farmer will not hesitate to dry the crop with the sales ringing up. We should see harvest complete shortly as we have above-average temperatures along with normal rains. In the overnight electronic session, the December corn is currently trading at 409 ¾ which is up a ½ of a cent. The trading range has been 412 to 406 ¾.

On the ethanol front, Pacific ethanol stock shot higher and soared 24% higher as of 11:19 A.M. CDT yesterday, with no apparent reason for the move. Analysts have thought it has to do with the coronavirus and not the election because both parties are in favor of hand sanitizers and disinfectants. No analyst upgrades or price target hikes for the stock either, according to Rich Smith Author with the Motley Fool. He went on to say, Pacific Ethanol’s third-quarter report is not out until Monday and is expected to have an earnings miss. But with newly diagnosed cases of COVID-19 investors expect higher demand for disinfectants and hand sanitizers. There were no trades posted in the overnight electronic session. The December ethanol settled at 1.400 and is currently showing 2 bids @ 1.350 and 3 offers @ 1.459 with Open interest dropping to 31 contracts.

On the crude oil front, the market rallied on bullish inventories but sank after imports to China fell 4.88% OilX’s analyst also reported tanker congestion at Chinese ports continued to ease and the level of oil storage in facilities has also declined. China’s crude imports have fallen from their record high of 13 million barrels per day in recent months. Analysts expect Chinese imports will not be as strong in the fourth quarter. In the overnight electronic session, the December crude oil is currently trading at 3755 which is 124 points lower. The trading range has been 3861 to 3733.

On the natural gas front, we see the rise of supply, trade, and competition. The Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) trading hub in the Netherlands has a more open interest in gas contracts, a total number of outstanding positions held by market participants than in the U.S. Henry Hub benchmark. This market will no doubt be the energy market of the future. In the overnight electronic session, the December natural gas is currently trading at 2.910 which is .032 lower. The trading range has been 2.971 to 2.895.