Pickin’ Corn While Waiting On Mr. G

Marc Dupee will be out of the
office until October 9. In his absence, this column is being written by
TradersWire’s Duke Heberlein.

December
corn
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, off the Momentum-5
List
, hopped out of its trading range on Tuesday, gaining 3 1/2 to 202 3/4
per contract. This puts corn solidly above it 20- and 50-day moving averages.
Fundamentally, while some traders were expecting a weaker day for the future due
to favorable harvest weather in the corn belt increasing supply, exports coming
in above expectations have had a buoying effect on the crop’s prices.

Stock index futures popped up at the onset
of trading, but have struggled since, awaiting the Federal Reserve decision on
whether or not to raise short-term interest rates. An earnings warning from
copier giant Xerox
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failed to rock the market deeply, however, earnings
fears as a whole are keeping traders on their toes and the choppy conditions
intact. Despite all this, the Dow futures
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managed to gain 95 points
to 10920. The contract is currently trading in a low-level triangle near areas
of prior support, so if the market does rally on the expected announcement of no
rate hike by the Fed, Dow futures could see a move to the upside in upcoming
trading.

Tuesday’s release of August’s index of
leading economic indicators showed a fall of 0.1% to 105.7, and new housing sales
dropped 3%, signals that most analysts agree point to slowing in the U.S.
economy.