RCM Ag Services

Tag: DOW Jones

26 Jun 2020
Agriculture, Corn, Market Commentary, Market Updates, Other News, Soybeans rcmagserv 0 comment

AG Markets Update: June 22-26

 

Corn prices have taken a hit this week with Dec ’20 futures dipping below $3.30. Rains over the past week in the corn belt and warm temperatures will help support the crop along with rains and warm temps heading into the 4th of July. Exports continued their lackluster pace with no big sales to provide any supportive news. Tuesdays Stocks and Acreage report is the only place to look if you are looking for bullish news, but do not get your hopes up for a positive surprise from the USDA. The average trade estimate for US corn planted acres is sitting about 95 million acres which would be down from the March report of 96.99 million. With good weather forecast for pollination time keep an eye on if that changes as that would be a little supportive.

Via Barchart

 

Soybean prices took a hit this weak as no big sales were announced and growing tensions between the US and China. The administrations friction with China continues to escalate as Sec of State Pompeo is going on a full offensive to gather European support for more scrutiny of Chinese policies. The Soybean crop, like the corn, benefited from rains over the last week and will benefit from the forecast upcoming rains as well. Soybeans need the purchases from China to continue, if not accelerate, to have some bullish news. A mix of growing tensions with China and good US weather will continue to weigh on the market and should be the main things to keep an eye on going forward barring any surprises from the USDA report on Tuesday.

Via Barchart

 

DOW Jones

The Dow Jones took a big hit at the start of the week as cases begin to increase across the country in many states. As concerns of a larger “second wave” loom, markets may trade in this range until it seems we are out of the woods. The market will move on any vaccine news, news about US and China relations/trade war, and COVID-19 case numbers moving forward it seems unless the Fed comes out and does something.

Misc

As you can see from the prices below, aside from Corn, it was a relatively flat week for most other areas so the post is a little shorter this week. I wish there was more positive news out there about the markets but with everything that has happened this year and good weather there just isn’t much. It will be important to keep an eye on Sec Pompeo’s meetings with members of the EU as the week goes on.

 

Via Barchart

 

 

 

19 Jun 2020
Agriculture, Corn, Lumber, Market Commentary, Market Updates, Soybeans rcmagserv 0 comment

AG MARKETS UPDATE: JUNE 13 – 19


The July corn price has slowly climbed up since the start of May, more of a crawl than a climb, but front month prices have moved up. The next month of weather will be really important for this years corn crop and decide what level of potential yields we could see. The next week looks to dump a lot of rain in the western corn belt which has had some really dry areas, and moderate amounts of rain in Illinois over to Ohio and throughout the SE. The combination of good weather and a lack of any serious exports does not bode well for corn prices. Farmdocdaily has projected future corn prices which we see as a very real possibility. A trend line yield is not good for prices at harvest time. This would be a great time to look at doing some HTAs with your elevator or hedging in your brokerage account because a >170 yield come harvest will lead to poor prices on top of poor basis in some areas (trading futures and options on futures are not suitable for all investors). It is important to also consider what government payments you have received and see how they will effect your ultimate price.


(Farmdocdaily)

 


Soybean prices gained a little bit this week but nothing too exciting. With another week of poor export sales, beans have been up on the week on rumors of Chinese buying despite no official confirmation from the USDA. Beans will move a little more independently as they will heavily rely on Chinese buying. The rumors of buying has gotten prices to this level, but big purchases and an effort to meet the Phase 1 trade deal would be very supportive for beans, even if the expected yield continues to be good. The June 30th Stocks and Acreage report will be very important to keep an eye on as well in the coming weeks to get a better idea of how big the corn and bean crops can actually be.

 

DOW Jones
The Dow Jones continues to try and erase the loss from last weeks major selloff. Continued new unemployment numbers came in Thursday with 1.5 million new unemployment claims. The economy is opening back up, but unemployment remains high as we continue to see the fallout of COVID-19 reach into the summer. Leveling positive rates and hospitalizations have many people wanting to move further on in their cities reopening plans but officials continue to warn about the possible second wave causing businesses to partially reopen (partial reopen=not as many jobs). Until there is a vaccine this will continue to be the major mover of the markets.

Lumber
Lumber has had a solid week in gains for the prices as a few factors hit the market. The cash market has picked up in the last week and mills have ramped up their production again. The market closed over the 100 DMA earlier this week breaking that technical resistance. Housing has begun to recover and a continued recovery would be welcome for demand.

 

12 Jun 2020
Agriculture, Corn, Market Commentary, Market Updates, Soybeans, Wheat rcmagserv 0 comment

Ag Markets Update: June 6 – 12


The 2020 June USDA Crop Report came out Thursday and contained little surprise for the corn market. The report did trim off some ending stocks from 19/20 as they adjusted for the corn that was lost in ND that was never harvested until this spring due to weather problems. Corn seems to have little news to drive it significantly higher in the near term as there is favorable weather in most areas that have corn already growing. We should keep our eye on the lack of rain in the 7-14 day window as an early lack of rain could effect pollination in areas. The USDA put 20/21 corn price at $3.20, the same as last month, and $3.60 for 19/20. The stocks numbers can be found on the chart at the bottom but, like we said, little surprise. Funds continue to hold large short positions.

 


Soybean prices stayed steady this week after gains over the past couple of weeks. Continued confirmed Chinese buying along with sales to “unknown buyers”, more than likely China, have given beans the support they need. The buying has slowed down some but as long as decent purchases keep coming from China that will support soybeans. Like corn, the USDA report was pretty much a non-event for beans despite some bullish news. The ending world stocks for both 19/20 and 20/21 were both lowered enough to see some slight gains in bean prices before coming back down to finish trading Thursday about unchanged. The rally over the past couple weeks helped keep the bullish news from moving the markets much as most of the news seemed to be factored into the price already.

 


Wheat has had a hard week, losing over 20 cents in the July contract. The USDA report was definitely bearish for wheat as the outlook for the southern hemisphere 20/21 growing season was bigger. USDA is forecasting a 11 mmt gain in Australia wheat crop and 1.5 mmt gain for Argentina. There are some trade concerns that the Russian wheat crop may be trimmed which would allow for more US wheat exports. The demand for US wheat looks to be strong for the remainder of this year but when the southern hemisphere starts harvest the smaller demand for US wheat should pull prices down. In the short run keep an eye on any weather problems and trouble in Russia as US spring wheat is off to a great start with 82% rated good to excellent.

 


DOW Jones
The Dow Jones had a major selloff Thursday as concern over COVID-19 begins to ramp back up. Cases/hospitalizations in some places have started to go back up the last week. This could be a result of the easing of restrictions but many states who have been open are not showing major changes despite a small up trend in cases. The government earlier this week also admitted they made a mistake, shocking I know, when calculating last week’s unemployment rate. They have admitted they were off by 3% stating it should have been at 16.3% instead of the reported 13.3% that lead to a market rally.

Crude Oil
Crude took a hit on Thursday with the market selloff, as it fell over $3 a barrel. This comes as a result of similar reasons for the fall in the DOW Jones as consumer’ optimism about COVID-19 may be put on hold for a little bit. If consumers do not plan on travelling as much this summer and fall anymore and people continue to not go in the office consumer consumption will stay low.

05 Jun 2020
Agriculture, Corn, Cotton, Market Commentary, Market Updates, Other News, Soybeans rcmagserv 0 comment

Ag Markets Update: May 30- June 5

Planting is close to done in most parts of the country with over 90% of corn in the ground. Now the focus will turn to weather as early growing season is an important time. With a tropical depression in the gulf, it makes it difficult to predict future weather patterns as they are constantly changing. One model predicts for a drought type pattern in the southern plains and western corn belt as the tropical storm Cristobal pulls a lot of energy, so we’ll see how that pans out. Corn prices have been steady the past few weeks with few purchases to get excited about and no early problems to the U.S. corn crop. As long as yield estimates for U.S. corn stays high, there does not seem to be many reasons for a rally unless there is a weather event or we start to see large purchases. Ethanol production has remained steady as reserves are starting to go down, which will hopefully lead to more plants opening back up. The chart below is for July corn and you can see the change in the 20 day moving average as it has begun to tick up.

Soybean prices got a boost this week as Chinese buying continued, despite the government telling companies to quit buying many U.S. Ag products in retaliation to Trump’s comments and policies about Hong Kong last week. Despite what people thought would initially hurt Chinese purchases, tensions seem to be cooling between the two countries (for now). A huge week of soybean meal exports helped fund short covering that gave beans a big boost on Thursday. Continued buying from China would be very supportive for beans, but a decline could see a retreat after recent strength. Look for bean planting to continue its good progress over the next week.

Cotton traded above $.60/pound this week for the first time in the July contract since March 16. Rising futures prices with smaller open interest usually leads to a price reversal, which this price move has seemed to follow. With more open interest in the December contract month, look for more volatility moving forward as speculators will look there. We are barely into the start of hurricane season and already on hurricane number 3 forming in the gulf. A long and consistent hurricane season could do a great deal of damage to the southeast Cotton crop. Cotton has always been sensitive to the U.S. dollar, so a weakening dollar the last couple of weeks has been supportive to prices.

DOW Jones

The Dow Jones continues its climb as it topped 26,000 this week. The markets have recovered quicker than many expected to get to this point. As states across the country have opened back up investors have an optimistic outlook for the rest of 2020. Continuing progress on the Covid-19 vaccine and no spikes in positive test results are all good things for the market and overall economy of the US. This will help people get back to work quickly and hopefully minimize the damage of the long shutdowns.

Crude Oil

Crude continues its climb back to normal prices as OPEC is in discussions to continue production cuts for June. Even though the world is opening back up and oil demand will ramp up, drilling needs to happen at the same rate to not create an oversupply. This agreement being extended would be supportive for crude.

29 May 2020
Agriculture, Corn, Crude Oil, Market Commentary, Market Updates, Other News, Soybeans rcmagserv 0 comment

AG MARKETS UPDATE: MAY 23-29

Planting is almost complete across the country as the final reported number was 88% planted this week. The weather outlook into early June is promising for many areas that were delayed in planting to still be able to get their crop in the ground in early June with the exception of parts of North Dakota that will be hard to catch up. With little news in the markets this month, trade has been pretty stagnant. July corn did trade at $3.30 in the July contract for the first time in over a month on Thursday before falling back to $3.27 ½ at the close. If July corn could close above $3.30 for the month of May it would be a very welcome sight after a month of very limited trading range.

(Barchart.com)

 

Soybean planting was estimated to be 65% complete this week, still well ahead of the average for this time of year. Like corn, the weather for the next week is promising for planting progress across most of the country. Purchases from China gave beans a boost early in the week but no follow up purchases have kept the news slow and prices steady. Any purchases from China, as has been the trend, would be helpful to prices along with an easing in political tensions. ASF news has been quiet as Covid-19 has been the big news story, but as China continues to replenish its hog populations that should help purchases in the future. November beans have been trading between $8.30 and $8.55 for most of the last month with $8.50 the current landing spot. While the bulls have been hopeful of size-able Chinese purchases, the reality has been small purchases with much of their purchases coming from Brazil.

(Barchart.com)

Crude Oil prices have had a great rally despite early worries that we would have another bottleneck problem like we did with the May crude contracts for July. As people around the country are going back to their daily lives, in some capacity they are driving again. The rest of this year should see increasing travel by car as people will look to drive to vacations rather than hoping on a plane. See the chart below to see the impressive rebound for the month of May.

(Barchart.com)

DOW Jones
The Dow Jones has continued its surge up as May will post another large gain despite record unemployment numbers. As states have begun reopening, traders are seeing this as promising for the markets as people will hopefully be returning to work. People continue to work from home in many major cities, or have the option to work from home, and will probably continue doing this as the summer goes on until the public feels safe to return to close to normal.

CFAP Relief Package
Enrollment for the CFAP Relief Package began this week on the 26th. If you have not already, reach out to your local FSA office to begin this process to make sure you do not miss out on any opportunity. The CFAP had scheduled payment of 32 cents per bushel from the original CARES Act and a CCC payment of 35 cents per bushel on the lower of 50% of last year’s production or 50% of your unpriced corn on January 15th. That works out to potentially receiving 67 cents on half of last year’s corn crop. The soybeans payment works the same with payments of 45 cents and 50 cents for a potential payment of 95 cents per bushel on 50% of last year’s bean crop. The math is not clear nor why January 15th was chosen, but those are the guidelines. Livestock is also covered in the payment and information on that from the USDA website can be found here. For more information on how to sign up for the CFAP Relief Package, check out this video.

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