Commentary

October 16 2012 4:41 PM

Monday's weekly crop progress reports meant little to prices as were winding down the harvest for corn and beans and our condition reports, once aggressively traded, are now over. Corn harvest came in at 79% complete versus the five year average of 38%. This skewed difference was, the results of the earliest planting dates on record which led to early maturity then harvest. Laggers were Indiana at 61% and Ohio 31% harvested.

October 16 2012 7:58 AM

Greece will get its bailout. Spain will be rescued! So why the heck did we ever doubt it? Yesterday the doubts crept into the market place as the European politicians played a game of economic chicken trying to get a sense of who might blink. Today the market is coming back on yet another story that indeed it will just be a matter of time before Spain asks for help. In the mean time the oil market plays a game of risk on risk off as this economic mating ritual plays out. I feel so used!

September 18 2012 4:43 PM

Sunday night into Monday saw the grains slowly dissolve as old bulls sold long held positions and new traders sold short. It took the entire night and day session to finish the selling until finally December corn settled down $.33, beans down its $.70 limit and week off $.44. Several issues were responsible. The first was failure of the Friday, September 14 European Central Bank meeting to agree to a timetable to resolve the euro debt crisis. Finance Ministers fought over every issue of a potent...

September 17 2012 9:49 AM

Dec. Bonds are currently 10 higher at 145'08 and the 10 Yr. Notes 5 higher at 132'02. On last Thursday the Fed announced another round of "Quantitative Easing" with the proposed purchasing of up to 40 billion dollars woth of Mortgage Backed Securities on a monthly basis. The market reacted to this by breaking the Bond market from the 147'00 level to the low 144'00's because of the inflationary implications of such an action. In the face of this short term instruments rallied...

September 14 2012 8:50 AM

Think of all the possibilities! They are unlimited especially after the Federal Reserve used the nuclear option with open ended QE3D and an extension of the low interest rate pledge for another year! Commodity bulls will be dancing the twist as the music plays on with the Fed buying the long end and selling the short end in what can only be described as explosively bullish for the markets. Ben Bernanke Rightly said that this had nothing to do with politics and the Fed can't do it alone! The ...

September 12 2012 10:07 AM

Dec. Bonds are currently1'02 lower at 147'22 and the 10 Yr. Note 11 lower at 132'14. Germany is likely to allow participation in the ECB proposed Bond buying program of up to 3 year maturities issued by troubled members such as Spain, Italy and Greece to prevent rates from those nations rising too dramatically. This has removed some of the "flight to safety premium" that has kept U.S. Bonds at record low yields. The next item to watch for will be the FOMC announcement tomorrow and...

September 11 2012 7:08 PM

The week's weather looks to further talk of the drought ending. WXRISK.com the weather site has the Western grain belt Wednesday through Thursday with 60% coverage up to 1 inch of rain in Iowa, Nebraska, and all of Kansas. Thursday and Friday the Eastern grain belt of Illinois, Indiana and Missouri see 50% coverage of .50 to 1.00 inch. Our hard red winter wheat states have rain all three days. 65 to 70% coverage of 1 to 2 inches in Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas. The coverage in the whe...

September 10 2012 6:43 PM

After Mario Draghi announced the European Central Bank's new bond buying program, I was the first guest on CNBC Asia's Squawk Box to weigh in on this decision. I reiterated my stance that the endgame for Europe would be to print money, which will eventually lead to currency wars. These actions are positive for gold and also for increased economic activity.

September 10 2012 9:51 AM

Dec. Bonds are currently 10 lower at 148'31 and the Dec. 10 Yr. Note about unchanged at 133'00. Wed. and Thurs. the FOMC will have a two meeting and the market is currently divided as to whether there will be an announcement of another round of Quantitative Easing. According to polls that I have recently read, 60% of economists surveyed thought that the Fed will do another round of "Easing". Personally, I think at current levels another round of easing will have little effect. That b...