The grains had a very choppy and frustrating day today.. We opened with ten cent moves in the first 2 minutes..Drifted to afternoon lows, and then trended sharply higher through the afternoon, led by an afternoon rally which had beans rally from 953 up to 973, then break 8 cents into the close on hedging to settle at 965 area.
In CZ, we had a trade between 391 and 381 in the first 2 minutes, drifted lower to 380 and then screamed higher from 380 up to a trading session high at 397…Some hedging on the close gave us a settlement around 394… In WZ, we had an opening range of 510 to 520, drifted to an afternoon low at 508 1/2 and then rallied with Corn and Beans in the afternoon from that low up to 527, with a settlement around the 525 area..
Impressive volatility, as the Market digests the USDA figures, and weather delays or potential crop reductions in yield or quality in the CZ…The market does not like uncertainty, and until the Jan USDA number are in there will be some issues as to what’s going on with this corn crop.
In the outside markets, we have seen choppy trade as well, with Gold higher, but not breaking the 1111 level so far, Silver stuck around the 17.50 area, not being able to approach the 18 dollar level (its most recent chart high), while the Stock indexes appear to be taking a breather after yesterday’s rally performance.
Good Trading