Beans Fall With Brazilian Rain
Rainfall in Brazil’s principal growing regions solidified the view that the soybean crop from the world’s second largest exporting nation will be large, pressuring prices and sending beans to a four-month low.
January soybeans [SF0>SF0] tumbled 10 to 451 and soybean oil [BOF0>BOF0], from the Implosion-5 List, fell .23 to close at 15.59. Soymeal [SMF0>SMF0] also lost 2.4 to 143.8. Wheat [WH0>WH0] fell to a new low, forging a new bottom in a well established channel and ended down 4 at 237 3/4.
March T-bonds [USZH0>USH0] fell 11/32 to 94 10/32 and finished on their lows of the day, ahead of tomorrow’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report.
Stock index futures finished mixed. March Dow futures [DJH0>DJH0] slipped 26.0 to 11346.0 while the S&Ps [SPH0>SPH0] gained 1.50 to 1436.50. And from the Momentum-5 List, NASDAQ 100 futures [NDH0>NDH0] added 32.00 to close at a record 3287.00.
Action in currency futures trading was largely limited to the dollar and Japanese yen. March dollar index futures [DXH0>DXH0] slipped .07 and the yen [JYH0>JYH0] also fell .0086 to .9835.
In a raucous day of trading, crude oil and its products ended higher. January crude [CLF0>CLF0] gapped open, then fell into negative territory only to stage a recovery in the final half hour to close up .15 on the day at 25.38. January unleaded gas gained .0105 to .6948 and heating oil [HUF0>HUF0] made good on its Turtle Soup Plus One Buy set up, gaining .0146 to .6462. January natural gas [NGF0>NGF0] benefited from seasonal cold weather, moving higher for a fifth straight day to close at a ten-day high, up .063 at 2.509.
In quiet trade, the metals finished mixed. February gold [GCG0>GCGO] rose 1.1 to .39 and copper [HGH0>HGH0] fell .55 to 80.15.
February pork bellies [PBG0>PBG0] fell .975 to 75.200, falling for a third day from a double top
March cocoa [CCH0>CCH0] gapped lower and continued sinking following the postponement of a strike by an Ivory Coast growers collective. The March contract ended down 35 at 839. The rains in Brazil also pressured coffee [KCH0>KCH0]: the March contract ended down 2.65 at 124.35.
Finally, January orange juice [OJF0>OJF0] fell 1.50 to close at 93.30.