Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Cocoa declined 23.1% this week, its biggest weekly decline in history
By: Barchart | May 3, 2024
• Cocoa declined 23.1% this week, its biggest weekly decline in history.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Natural Gas Eyes on Further Gains
By: Bruce Powers | May 3, 2024
• Natural gas breaks to a new trend high of 2.16, triggering a monthly breakout. It is likely to close strong, hinting at a continuation higher into next week.
Natural gas breaks out to a new trend high of 2.16 on Friday and it is on track to close strong, in the upper quarter of the day’s range. If it does, a continuation higher heading into next week looks to be on the table. The weekly chart is also set to end strong for the second week in a row.
Further, a monthly breakout triggered today on a move above April’s high of 2.09. Today’s high approached a resistance zone from late-January and early-February with a high for the range at 2.17. If that high gets busted, higher price levels become targets.
Improvement in Momentum
Given the improvement in momentum and the likely strong closing price for the week, the initial targets could eventually be exceeded. That is, if demand remains strong. The next target zone begins with the completion of an extended rising ABCD pattern at 2.20. That is where the CD leg of the advance is 127.2% of the AB leg.
Nonetheless, an initial Fibonacci retracement of 38.2% is at 2.24, with that price level confirmed by previous support from the December 11 swing low. If natural gas can get through that price level and keep rising it may have a chance to eventually test resistance around the 200-Day MA, which is currently at 2.47.
Signs of Strength in Monthly Chart
Confirmation of strength on both the monthly and weekly charts provides further evidence for a bullish reversal of the bottom from February. This means that that rally should have more to go, and it may just be getting started. Today’s price action extends an advance off support around the lower blue dash trend channel line.
In general, once prices rise above from support at the bottom of a channel, an eventual target is the top channel line. This doesn’t mean it will be reached, just that it could be. Of course, the price represented by the upper line will depend on when it is reached, given that it is downward sloping. However, given that it is now a potential target, it may make the lower price targets more likely to be reached.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Play It! The Energy Report
By: Phil Flynn | May 3, 2024
I was shocked to hear there was gambling going on at Ricks Café and equally shocked to hear that Biden’s price caps on Russian oil have failed. In 2022 the administration of Joe Biden tried to impose a price cap to cut oil revenues for Russia, a major source of funding for its war against Ukraine. Now as my buddy Anas Alhajji points out, the Russian Urals crude price is about $15 above the price cap and is very concerned about who is going to tell Treasury Secretary Yellen or Biden.
Of course if Ms. Yellen or Biden read my report back then, I could have saved them the trouble of putting on the ill-fated price cap in the beginning. I predicted that the price caps would fail and if they asked me, who knows, it could have been the start of a beautiful friendship.
I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems with price caps are that they never work, and never have worked. People will either find a way around them or if they are truly enforced, it will lead to shortages. You show me a price cap, then I will show you a shortage. Yet the shortage did not happen because the price caps were never enforced.
This week Reuters reported that a group of Western insurers said a Russian oil price cap has become unenforceable and only pushed more ships into joining a shadow fleet, delivering one of the harshest rebukes to the measure that had been meant to cut revenue to the Kremlin. Now there are more calls in congress to lift the Russian oil price caps and try – maybe – some sanctions that might work.
First the Biden administration has been trying to convince people over the last couple of years that the price caps were working. Now it’s clear that they never really did work and I told them that.
Biden’s spendthrift ways of throwing money at the electric car industry, as we said, was doomed to fail and it is failing. Biden’s attacks on the US oil and gas industry and the reversal of many of Trump’s policies on energy was the start of his problems. Killing pipelines, drilling moratoriums and extreme regulations are some of the factors that is causing inflation. His tapping of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for purely political purposes was part of his ill fated energy policy. Biden’s foreign policy in the Middle East by going hard on Saudi Arabia and soft on Iran has had devastating consequences for the globe. Biden’s energy policies may very well be the reason why he could lose his reelection. Maybe he’ll always have Paris. Paris, as in the Paris Climate accord, at least until the next president pulls out of it. Here’s looking at you, kid.
Yet this week it was the Fed that did more to bring down oil prices than anything Biden or Janet Yellen did. This week the story was bigger than expected increase in crude oil supplies, disappointing gasoline demand and real concerns that the Federal Reserve was going to have to induce a recession to get inflation under control. The problems are being complicated by a slowdown in US manufacturing and talk of the possibility of stagflation is permeating the marketplace. This puts emphasis on today’s jobs report. The other thing that we’ve seen in oil this week is the unwinding of geopolitical risk factors. It’s almost amazing to me that oil prices took seriously the possibility that ceasefire talks were going anywhere, but they obviously did.
It’s going to be interesting to see how oil traders will prepare for what may be coming this weekend as many sources believe that Israel will start to move into Rafah this weekend. This comes as the Wall Street Journal reports that, “The Pentagon is shifting jet fighters, armed drones and other aircraft to Qatar, repositioning its forces to get around restrictions on conducting airstrikes from an air base long used by the U.S. in the United Arab Emirates. The U.A.E. informed the U.S. in February that it would no longer permit American warplanes and drones based at Al Dhafra air base in Abu Dhabi to carry out strikes in Yemen and Iraq. That has prompted U.S. commanders to send the additional aircraft to Al Udeid air base in Qatar, the small Persian Gulf monarchy that hasn’t imposed similar restrictions, U.S. officials said.”
Oil should be close to the low and the correction should be over. If the jobs market is not too hot, then the bottom should be in as the risk premium goes back in.
Natural gas is putting up a good fight in the face of an overwhelming supply. Codes for the US domestic natural gas market is in fact that natural gas prices are historically cheap and data centers unquenchable demand for power continues to grow to incredible heights. With the emergence of cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, electricity demand is going to be going through the roof and is it possible that the US natural gas market will be saved by this incredible surge and demand. More on that next week.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Natural Gas Potential for Bullish Trend Continuation
By: Bruce Powers | May 2, 2024
• Weekly chart shows bullish continuation, with last week's high of 2.00 a key level to watch.
Natural gas triggered a bullish reversal on a rise above Wednesday’s narrow range day high on Thursday before encountering resistance at 2.05 and stalling the ascent. This increases the chance that the low of 1.91 from the past week will maintain support. However, further bullish follow-through is necessary to further confirm the indication. Once today’s session is complete, that will start to happen on a rally above today’s high. But there will not be a bullish trend continuation signal until the recent high of 2.09 is exceeded to the upside.
Bullish Weekly Signal
A bullish continuation on the weekly chart was triggered this week further supporting a continuation higher for natural gas. Last week’s high of 2.00 is the price level to watch relative to this week’s closing price. It is currently trading above that price level and a daily close above it will confirm the bullish move on a weekly time frame. Keep in mind that the larger time frames influence the shorter time frames.
Low Volatility Leads to Higher Volatility
Further, volatility in the price of natural gas dropped during the formation of the bottom symmetrical triangle consolidation pattern. What usually follows low volatility? Higher volatility. In other words, the stage is set for a potential rally into higher price zones. That doesn’t mean it goes straight up. There is still the possibility of a dip below this week’s low of 1.91. But it becomes less likely if this week ends above 2.00.
Signs of Strengthening
This week’s high of 2.09 completed an initial rising ABCD target at 2.07 and the high reached the underside of the 20-Week MA, an obvious location for possible resistance, which is what happened. Further supporting a continuation higher is the relationship with the declining blue dashed parallel trend channel. The area around the lower channel line has acted as support for five days and now strength is returning. That is a sign of progress as the top channel line becomes a potential target once this week’s high is exceeded. This doesn’t mean it will be reached but the possibility exists. Therefore, the chance of eventually reaching lower targets increases.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Agriculture Master Report
By: Bill Moore | May 2, 2024
JULY WHEAT
After a near-vertical 80 cent, 6-day rally, July Wht became severely over-bought & is predictably correcting today -with the fundamental attached to the correction expected rain in S Russia! Indeed, dryness in the South US Plains, Russia & Ukraine spawned the rally – along with historical cheapness & export potential uncovered by low prices! As well, pressure from first Notice Day Tues & Crop Progress today at 3pm added to the price pressure! Spring Wht is expected to be 36-38% in & the WW good-to-excellent to decline 2-3 %!
JULY CORN
As you can see, July Corn has been locked in a tight 25 cent range since Mar 1! Today, the headwinds of heavy deliveries (beans, oil & wht) & better than expected planting progress – 27% (avg-22) have the mkt under pressure! But supporting the mkt are the tailwinds of exceptional exports (35% over 2023) & possible pltg delays ahead which would shift corn acres to beans! As well, the general cheapness of corn ($2.00 under last Summer’s highs) & the strong possibility of La Nina’s hot & dry coming – has the mkt leaning up – albeit still range-bound! And there still exists a sizeable short fund OI! There appears to be “no margin for error” for the US Crops this summer!
JULY BEANS
Massive deliveries against the bean complex – oil (1873), beans (537) & meal (222) & impressive planting progress – 18% (10-avg) have July Beans on their heels today! Illinois is 26% in & Iowa 25% in! As well, expected planting delays this week could add to the already sizeable bean acreage! Finally, the ongoing Argentine oilseed & maritime workers strike is adding to the pressure! The Monday inspections showed 250,332MT – cumulative is running 18% under 2023! However, the $2.50 break in July Beans since December is substantial & has dialed in a lot of bearish fundamentals! Plus, the wide disparity between Conab (46mmt) & the USDA (55mmt) regarding Brazil’s crop would seems to resolve itself closer to CONAB than the USDA!
JUNE CAT
After topping out at 186 in Mid-March due to the bearish Cattle-on-Feed Report, June Cat plummeted $16 to 170! The latter part of the down move was exacerbated by the Bird Flu epidemic which has alternately been down-played but then feared as it relates to beef demand! And it’s still a relevant mkt-mover – rearing its ugly head anytime the cattle mounts a rally! Heavy weights & higher US beef production have been offset by resurgent beef demand from the ongoing “grilling season”! The net result is a once powerful bull mkt that has morphed into a consolidating, sideways trade
JUNE HOGS
The April 10 Key Reversal remains the major chart formation of June Hogs for 2024 as the mkt has not breached that high since! Coinciding with this “chart top” was the emergence of Bird Flu in the Midwest – which cast serious doubt over meat demand & has acted like a “wet blanket” on any subsequent rallies! As well, weaker cash & a near-record long-fund open interest has been significant headwinds to June Hogs – staving off any potential rallies! Underpining the mkt is the stellar “grilling season” demand! The net is a range-bound mkt between 101 & 108!
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Lack Of Further Progress. The Energy Report
By: Phil Flynn | May 2, 2024
Commodity volatility went crazy as the Federal Reserve signaled, “the lack of further progress on there are inflation target in recent months” shook up a whole host of commodities. We started with dramatic moves in grains, meats, industrial metals, and precious metals and of course in oil that not only had to deal with the Federal Reserve seemingly putting off interest rate cuts, but also a very disappointing weekly inventory report that suggests that U.S. oil demand is sputtering. Yet the further lack of interest rate cuts and the drop in oil prices means that OPEC plus could extend its voluntary production cuts beyond the second quarter and into the New Year. The plunge in oil might reverse if OPEC sources are correct and OPEC signals an extension of the cuts then more than likely this is going to be a trial balloon, but our expectations are very clear. If prices don’t hold this area, then OPEC will extend cuts and possibly even work towards a larger cut in production.
While the weekly demand numbers for total petroleum products came in at an impressive 20.417 million barrels of oil a day, we saw an uptick in gasoline demand which was up 195,000 barrels a day from the week before and is still coming in at a weak 8.618 million barrels a day. Distillate demand was also up week over week, coming in at 3.678 million barrels a day. But where you see the demand discrepancy is when you look at the four-week moving average, for example gasoline averaged 8.6 million barrels a day which is down by 3.6% from the same period last year. The weakness in gasoline demand probably reflects the big drop that we saw in consumer confidence last week.
This is a warning sign that high inflation is really starting to cut into the consumer’s ability to spend the money. Now if you put this in the context of the Federal Reserve coming out saying that they are going to have to potentially pause an interest rate cut, it means that there’s going to be more pain for consumers because the only way you’re going to bring down gasoline demand is to make the economy tougher for most people.
We were expecting a bigger uptick in gasoline demand this week and while the weekly numbers have not been so accurate, the trend is not encouraging. The data shows a drop in distillate inventory that if you look at the four-week moving average, is down 8.2% from the same period a year ago. The other main reason why the report came out as bearish as it did was the fact that we saw commercial crude inventories surge by 7.3 million barrels from the previous week. Not all of that was demand related but due to a surprising increase in U.S. oil imports and a big decrease in U.S. oil exports from the record-breaking numbers that we’ve been seeing. US crude exports fell from 5.179 million barrels a day to 3.918 million barrels a day, down 1.261 million barrels a day. US crude oil imports on the other hand rose to 2.854 million barrels a day and that was up from 1.318 million barrels a day the week before.
The market also seemed to be removing some of the geopolitical risk and worst-case scenarios. Even with the hopes of a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel falling apart, the market seems unfazed that it’s going to have any negative consequences for the flow of oil.
Get geopolitical risks remain. Overnight it was reported that Ukraine drones hit a Rosneft refinery. Bloomberg reported that Ukrainian drones hit a major oil refinery owned by state-controlled Rosneft PJSC in Ryazan, southeast of Moscow, just as the facility’s crude-processing had recovered from a previous strike. The overnight attack caused a fire at the plant, a person in the Ukraine military who is familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News.
Apparently the Wall Street Journal reported that they found evidence of collusion! They reported that Ex-Pioneer CEO Scott Sheffield was barred from the Exxon Board in the merger between the two companies. The Journal says that antitrust enforcers are set to allege Scott Sheffield discussed coordinating oil-production levels with other producers and OPEC. Exxon agreed in October to buy Pioneer for $60 billion in stock, marking its biggest deal since it merged with Mobil in the late 1990s and the largest oil-and-gas deal in two decades. The WSJ says that they will all edge that Sheffield engaged in collusive activity that could have raised the price of oil, these people said. The allegations will include that Sheffield sent hundreds of messages to representatives of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries about market dynamics, including pricing and production levels.
The Journal, in a must read, said that, “For years, investors urged frackers to stop overspending on drilling new wells and pumping ever-increasing amounts of crude, and instead to keep production largely flat, which would increase cash flows and enable higher returns to shareholders. It took years—and a crippling pandemic—for shale producers to agree.” U.S. frackers fiercely competed for years with OPEC for market share. At a 2017 dinner in Houston, shale executives sat down for a first-of-its-kind dinner with Mohammad Barkindo, then the secretary-general of OPEC. Sheffield attended the dinner, during which Barkindo discussed OPEC negotiations on cutting oil output, among other topics.”
This is going to be interesting. Many investors and people in the oil industry believe that when the US frackers started to over produce and flood the market with oil that it was not a good business decision.
The column of oil depressed prices and many of the producers racked up huge debt. OPEC on the other hand is a well oiled machine these days and they can really have an impact on global inventories. The question becomes at what point does collusion crossover with common sense.
Many people in the industry think that shell producers were derelict in their duty by not cutting back production earlier. One of the things I used to write during those days is that the frackers used to try to lose money on every barrel then try to make up for that in volume. Of course the commodity markets are probably the best way to hedge the risk of the boom and bust industry. But perhaps there has to be a better way for the US oil and gas industry to judge the market so that they can stay competitive with the likes of OPEC and Russia.
After the huge sell off the last couple of days as we ended the big plunge on the last trading day of April and we continued to sell off on the first day of May, we do believe that we’re getting pretty close to a value range for oil. While there still could be some downside today this will probably be a good opportunity to put on your spring hedges.
Natural gas is attempting to bottom but failed when the rest of the global markets seemed to fall apart. Today is going to be a big day as far as the natural gas injection number. We’re looking for an increase of 54 BCF.
The Biden administration’s attitude towards the energy policy is to throw as much of it on the wall and see what will stick. New rules by Bidens Environmental Protection Agency is going to compel coal and natural gas power plants to cut or capture 90% of their carbon pollution by 2032 according to the very optimistic but not very scientific EPA. They say this is going to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 75% compared to its peak in 2005. The EPA wants to use 2005 as a benchmark because it makes them look good. The Biden administration wants to push through as many environmental rules as they can we regardless of the economic fallout because they need to start pleasing their environmental base that is turning against them. Biden’s approval ratings are in the sewer and in desperation they’re going to throw out as much as they can in the next few months.
West Virginia attorney general Patrick Morrisey he said he’s going to challenge the new EP rules in court he said that the US Supreme Court has placed significant limits on what the Environmental Protection Agency can do and we plan on ensuring that those limits are repelled and we expect that once again we will prevail on this out of control EPA.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Commodities Daily Market Movers (% Price Change)
By: Marty Armstrong | May 2, 2024
• Top Movers
ICE Newcastle Coal Continuous 3.62 %
Oats (CBOT) Futures 2.17 %
Oats (Minneapolis) 1.89 %
Orange Juice (NYCE) Futures 1.77 %
Canola Futures 1.25 %
• Bottom Movers
Cocoa (NYCSCE) Futures 10.76 %
NYMEX RBOB Gasoline Futures 4.23 %
AU - Queensland Base-Load Electricity Futures 4.15 %
Tokyo Palladium Futures 4 %
AU - Victoria Base-Load Electricity Futures 3.95 %
*Close from the last completed Daily
DiscoverGold
Fed Freak Out. The Energy Report
By: Phil Flynn | May 1, 2024
Oil prices tried to stay strong in the face of the market doing a Federal Reserve freak out. Rumors that the Fed today is going to be extremely hawkish, even reports of potentially talking about raising rates before the end of the year, caused a major sell off in a lot of the markets. That wave of pessimism eventually dragged oil down and took the products with it.
Obviously, the fear of a more hawkish Fed and even a delay of interest rates could slow the economy and could slow the demand for oil at the same time. The rate differentials between the US dollar and other commodities could keep oil prices under pressure. It’s a story and they’re sticking to it.
Economic data yesterday though may suggest that the Fed is getting too hawkish and might be premature as consumer confidence is plummeting, falling to a reading of 97 yesterday when the expectations were for it to come in at 104.7. This came as manufacturing data in Chicago took a dive.
After the close it didn’t help that the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a whopping 4.906-million-barrel increase in crude supplies. While oil products saw a supportive 1.48 million barrel drop in gasoline supplies and an equally supportive 2.187 million barrel drop in distillate supplies. The market was overwhelmed with the size of the crude oil supply increase.
It’s going to be interesting to see if today’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) report confirms the crude oil increase and if they do, what makes up that increase. We’ll look at production and see if it’s a case of reduced refinery runs or more just an aberration.
The concerns about slowing demand or the potential slowing of demand come as OPEC has shown further commitment to reducing global oil supplies. In the latest Reuters survey, they show that oil output from OPEC fell by 100,000 barrels a day in March as exports from Iran, Iraq and Nigeria seem to be signaling better compliance from the countries that have been over producing.
Geopolitical risk factors continue to be at play but the fact that Israel has not invaded Rafah just yet seems to be taking some of that risk premium off the table. The latest news is Hamas is saying that they’re still studying the recent ceasefire offer. Yet Israel has ceasefire or no ceasefire, they’re going to eliminate Hamas. This comes as reports say that the Biden administration is going to welcome in refugees from the Gaza Strip into the United States.
The Biden administration offers new rules that will add to the cost of energy and inflation. My friend Mike “Mish” Shedlock reports that, “New Biden Energy Rules Will Raise the Cost of a New Home by $31,000.” He says that new HUD energy rules will raise the cost of home construction by imposing stricter building codes. Payback time is 90 years. Maybe time to bring back the 100 year mortgage?
Now The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has decided to mandate federal agencies to construct only fossil fuel-free buildings starting 2030. “DOE estimates that over the next 30 years, the new rule will reduce carbon emissions from federal buildings by 2 million metric tons and methane emissions by 16 thousand tons—an amount roughly equivalent to the emissions generated by nearly 310,000 homes in one year, while also reducing infrastructure costs”. The rule, which enforces the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, applies to construction projects with start dates that fall in 2025 or later. The rule requires projects breaking ground in 2025–29 to be designed in such a way that fossil fuel energy in each building is 90 percent lower relative to 2003 levels. Projects that begin construction 2030 or later must cut consumption by 100 percent relative to 2003 levels. The sense is that the Biden administration is trying to push through as much crazy stuff regulation as they can because they think they’re going to lose the election.
Bloomberg writes that, “Nations from the Group of Seven have agreed to work to reduce their reliance on “civil nuclear-related goods” from Russia, as major industrialized nations work to reset their energy plans while isolating Moscow. G-7 energy ministers said their countries will engage in a multilateral effort to promote a diversified fuel supply chain free from Russian influence, according to the closing statement from a meeting in the Italian city of Turin. The ministers also committed to promoting fusion as a future energy source alongside regulatory efforts. Germany had previously objected to any reference to nuclear power as part of the group’s initiatives for so-called green transition.
Gold prices also pulled back on the Fed concerns but MarketWatch cited healthy investment from the over the counter market as well as central bank purchases according to a report from the world council that was released on Tuesday. Total first-quarter gold demand, which includes the investment and industrial sectors and central-bank purchases, climbed 3% from the same period a year ago to 1,283.3 metric tons — the strongest first quarter since 2016, according to the World Gold Council report. The total demand figure included 136.4 metric tons in over-the-counter (OTC) purchases, characterized by market participants trading directly with each other, it said. That’s more than triple the year-ago amount of 42.7 metric tons.
Saudi Arabia and Iran met to try to develop a road map for economic cooperation in the public and private sector. Both sides said the talks were constructive in these two adversaries are trying to find a way to work together.
The New York Times reported that, “the Biden administration on Tuesday released rules designed to speed up permits for clean energy while requiring federal agencies to more heavily weigh damaging effects on the climate and on low-income communities before approving projects like highways and oil wells. As part of a deal to raise the country’s debt limit last year, Congress required changes to the National Environmental Policy Act, a 54-year-old bedrock law that requires the government to consider environmental effects and to seek public input before approving any project that necessitates federal permits. That bipartisan debt ceiling legislation included reforms to the environmental law designed to streamline the approval process for major construction projects, such as oil pipelines, highways and power lines for wind- and solar-generated electricity. The rules released Tuesday, by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, are intended to guide federal agencies in putting the reforms in place.
The morning after a big sell off in the oil makes it harder to recover. Margin selling and position adjustment is adding to early morning weakness. Still oil is at a value range and after we get through the EIA and Fed, we should start the trek higher.
Natural gas is trying to find a bottom against incredible odds. Look to buy long dated calls.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Natural Gas Price Forecast: Current Patterns and Potential Price Targets
By: Bruce Powers | May 1, 2024
• Natural gas has exceeded its first target in a rising ABCD pattern, with trading now eyeing a test of support in a declining channel. Recent highs suggest the potential for further price increases.
Natural gas exceeded its first target today at the completion of a rising ABCD pattern. The high for Tuesday is 2.09 and the pattern target was 2.07. Resistance was seen off the high and trading is happening at the lows of the day at the time of this writing. It looks like a test of support at the lower declining blue dashed parallel channel may be in the works.
The April 14 swing low of 1.95 can be used as a proxy for the line if reached today as it is crossing the dashed line. Otherwise, watch for support at or above the top boundary line (purple) of the symmetrical triangle bottom. The three-day low of 1.91 can be used as a proxy for the line, however, keep in mind that the line will represent a lower price in the future given its downward slope.
Highest Daily Closing Price in 59 Days
On Monday natural gas ended the session at its highest daily closing price in 59 days. Along with today’s new recent high, it looks like it is telegraphing higher prices. If it continues to rise, and there is a good chance it will, the next higher ABCD pattern target is up at 2.20. That price is within a target zone from around 2.17 to 2.24 and it includes the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement at 2.24.
Further up is the price area around the 200-Day MA at 2.48. Notice that the moving averages are showing improving demand. Recently, the purple 8-Day MA crossed up through the orange 50-Day MA after being below it for some months. Further, the relative strength index momentum oscillator (RSI) recently broke a trendline to the upside.
Below 1.91, Likely Leads to Test of Support Lower Down
Ideally for the bulls, natural gas stays above the April 26 gap day low support price of 1.91 during retracements. If so, the above bullish case becomes more likely and may occur faster than otherwise. However, if the 1.91 price level fails to act again as support and is broken to the downside, a test of lower price levels becomes likely. Lower meaning, from 1.90 to the 1.61 closing price from the day before the gap. The April 23 high of 1.85 and the 20-Day and 50-Day MAs from 1.80 to 1.78 are two price areas that stand out.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Grains Report: Wheat, Rice, Corn and Oats, Soybeans, Canola and Palm Oil
By: Jack Scoville | April 30, 2024
• WHEAT
General Comments: Wheat was lower yesterday ion correction trading, but trends are up in all three markets. The weather is the key, with extreme dryness reported in Russia and parts of the US and too wet conditions reported in Europe. The weekly export sales report showed poor sales once again. The problems with Russian Wheat exporters continue but are apparently getting resolved in the governments favor. The reports indicate that the government is seeking more control of the exports and has made life very difficult on the private exporters in an effort to extract more sales and powers to the government. Russia is the world’s largest exporter and sets the world price and prices remain low. Big world supplies and low world prices are still around. Export sales remain weak on competition from Russia, Ukraine, and the EU as those countries look to export a lot of Wheat in the coming period. Black Sea offers are still plentiful, but Russia has been bombing Ukraine again and shipments might be hurt from that origin.
Overnight News: The southern Great Plains should get mostly dry conditions. Temperatures should be above normal. Northern areas should see mostly dry conditions. Temperatures will average above normal. The Canadian Prairies should see mostly dry conditions. Temperatures should average above normal.
Chart Analysis: Trends in Chicago are up with no objectives. Support is at 602, 593, and 586 July, with resistance at 633, 639, and 655 July. Trends in Kansas City are up with no objectives. Support is at 636, 625, and 613 July, with resistance at 664, 669, and 675 July. Trends in Minneapolis are up with no objectives. Support is at 697, 686, and 682 July, and resistance is at 717, 721, and 732 July.
• RICE
General Comments: Rice closed higher yesterday and maintained the current trading range. Supply tightness is expected to give way to increased production this year and greatly increased supplies this Fall. Trends are up in this market on the daily charts. The market noted good planting and emergence progress in the weekly USDA reports.
Overnight News:
Chart Analysis: Trends are up with no objectives. Support is at 1850, 1826, and 1785 July and resistance is at 1978, 1993, and 2004 July.
• CORN AND OATS
General Comments: Corn and Oats closed slightly lower yesterday on reports of rapid planting progress in the Midwest as traders think that good Spring weather here will greatly increase planted Corn area. Demand has been the driving force behind the rally. Increased demand was noted in all domestic categories along with rising basis levels, and export demand has been strong. There are mixed ideas about how many acres of Corn will be planted in the US this year. It is very expensive to plant Corn and Corn is considered unprofitable to plant right now, so planted are might not increase that much if at all. USDA issued its crop progress report for Corn and Corn planting is proceeding at an average pace. Demand for Corn has been strong at lower prices. Big supplies and reports of better demand are still around, but futures have been very oversold. Funds remain very large shorts in the market.
Overnight News:
Chart Analysis: Trends in Corn are mixed. Support is at 446, 440, and 436 July, and resistance is at 454, 460, and 467 July. Trends in Oats are up with objectives of 382 July. Support is at 360, 354, and 349 July, and resistance is at 383, 386, and 389 July.
• SOYBEANS
General Comments: Soybeans closed a little higher and the products closed mixed yesterday, with Soybean Meal higher and Soybean Oil lower and making new lows for the move. Some selling from Brazil and Argentina was noted on the early rally attempt last week. Reports of great export demand in Brazil provide some support, but increased availability of Soy products from Argentina kept prices down. Reports indicate that China has been a very active buyer of Brazil Soybeans this season. Ideas that South American production is taking demand from the US have pressured futures lower. Domestic demand has been strong in the US. Funds remain large shorts in the market.
Overnight News:
Chart Analysis: Trends in Soybeans are mixed. Support is at 1164, 1146, and 1141 July, and resistance is at 1191, 1204, and 1216 July. Trends in Soybean Meal are mixed. Support is at 342.00, 340.00, and 336.00 July, and resistance is at 355.00, 360.00, and 363.00 July. Trends in Soybean Oil are mixed. Support is at 4410, 4350, and 4300 July, with resistance at 4610, 4690, and 4780 July.
• CANOLA AND PALM OIL
General Comments: Palm Oil was lower last week on ideas of seasonally increasing production and weaker demand from India and China. Trends are down on the daily and weekly charts. Canola was a little higher as farmers concentrate of=n fieldwork and not selling.
Overnight News:
Chart Analysis: Trends in Canola are mixed. Support is at 631.00, 627.00, and 618.00 July, with resistance at 641.00, 650.00, and 653.00 July. Trends in Palm Oil are down with objectives of 3790 and 3650 July. Support is at 3820, 3780, and 3740 July, with resistance at 3930, 4020, and 4040 July.
DJ Malaysia April 1-30 Palm Oil Exports Fell 11.5% on Month to 1,144,100 Tons, AmSpec Says
By Ying Xian Wong
Malaysia’s palm oil exports during the April 1-30 period are estimated down 11.5% on month at 1,144,100 metric tons, cargo surveyor AmSpec Agri Malaysia said Tuesday.
The following are the major items in the AmSpec estimate:
(All figures in metric tons)
April 1-30 March 1-31
RBD Palm Olein 369,668 413,601
RBD Palm Oil 143,935 139,780
RBD Palm Stearin 90,601 85,758
Crude Palm Oil 242,474 246,927
Total* 1,144,100 1,292,130
*Palm oil product volumes don’t add up to total as some products aren’t included.
Midwest Weather Forecast Scattered showers. Temperatures should average near to above normal.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Softs Report: Cotton, OJ, Coffee, Sugar, Cocoa
By: Jack Scoville | April 30, 2024
• COTTON
General Comments: Cotton was a little higher yesterday in sideways trading. Demand remains a problem. The export sales report showed poor sales once again. USDA made no changes to the domestic supply or demand sides of the balance sheets, but did cut world ending stocks slightly. Trends are still down on the weekly charts. Demand has been weaker so far this year. The US economic data has been positive, but the Chinese economic data has not been real positive and demand concerns are still around. However, Chinese consumer demand has held together well, leading some to think that demand for Cotton in world markets will increase over time.
Overnight News: The Delta will get mostly dry conditions and near normal temperatures. The Southeast will see showers and rains and below normal temperatures. Texas will have mostly dry conditions and near normal temperatures. ICE said that 198 notices were post4ed for delivery against May futures and that total deliveries for the month are now 411 contracts.
Chart Trends: Trends in Cotton are mixed. Support is at 80.60, 79.70, and 79.10 July, with resistance of 82.50, 84.30 and 86.20 July.
This Week Last Week Last Year Average
Cotton Planted 15 11 14 14
• FCOJ
General Comments: FCOJ closed sharply lower yesterday and the market can’t seem to settle on a direction for prices. Reports of tight supplies are around. Futures still appear to have topped out and a range trade has been seen. There are no weather concerns to speak of for Florida or for Brazil right now. The weather has improved in Brazil with some moderation in temperatures and increased rainfall amid reports of short supplies in Florida and Brazil are around but will start to disappear as the weather improves and the new crop gets harvested.
Overnight News: Florida should get scattered showers or dry conditions. Temperatures will average near normal. Brazil should get scattered showers and above normal temperatures.
Chart Trends: Trends in FCOJ are mixed. Support is at 354.00, 350.00, and 347.00 July, with resistance at 380.00, 391.00, and 392.00Julay.
• COFFEE
General Comments: New York and London closed higher yesterday on a lack of offers from Brazil and Vietnam. The lack of Robusta Coffee in the market is still the main feature, but less offers of Arabica are also noted. Robusta offers from Vietnam remain difficult to find and the lack of offer of Robusta is a bullish force behind the London market action. There were some indications that Vietnam producers were now offering a little Coffee, but not much and not nearly enough to satisfy demand. Vietnamese producers are reported to have about a quarter of the crop left to sell or less and reports indicate that Brazil producers are reluctant sellers for now after selling a lot earlier in the year. The next Robusta harvest in Brazil is starting now and offers for all Coffee increased last week in part on weakness in the Real.
Overnight News: The ICO daily average price is now 226.26 ct/lb. Brazil will get mostly scattered showers with near normal temperatures. Central America will get mostly dry conditions. Vietnam will see scattered showers. ICE NY said that 36 notices were posted for delivery today and that total deliveries for the month are now 866 contracts.
Chart Trends: Trends in New York are down with objectives of 221.00 and 204.00 July. Support is at 220.00, 215.00, and 213.00 July, and resistance is at 231.00, 245.00 and 253.00 July. Trends in London are mixed. Support is at 4070, 3950, and 3720 July, with resistance at 4340, 4420, and 4480 July.
• SUGAR
General Comments: New York and London closed higher yesterday and trends remain down on the charts as the market seems to have supplies available for sale. There are still ideas that the Brazil harvest can be strong for the next few weeks if not longer and production data released last week by CONAB indicated that the cane harvest could be less, but that Sugar production could be higher. Indian production estimates are creeping higher but are still reduced from recent years. There are worries about the Thai and Indian production, but data shows better than expected production from both countries. Offers from Brazil are still active but other origins. are still not offering in large amounts except for Ukraine. Ukraine offers have suffered lately with the war.
Overnight News: Brazil will get rains in the south and scattered showers in the north. Temperatures should average above normal. India will get mostly dry conditions and below normal temperatures.
Chart Trends: Trends in New York are mixed. Support is at 1890, 1860, and 1830 July and resistance is at 1990, 2050, and 2100 July. Trends in London are mixed. Support is at 560.00, 554.00, and 548.00 August, with resistance at 580.00, 590.00, and 600.00 August.
• COCOA
General Comments: New York and London were sharply lower yesterday and trends are down on the daily charts. It seemed that speculators were liquidating long positions. Production concerns in West Africa as well as demand from nontraditional sources along with traditional buyers keep supporting futures. Production in West Africa could be reduced this year due to the extreme weather which included Harmattan conditions. The availability of Cocoa from West Africa remains very restricted and projections for another production deficit against demand for the coming year are increasing. Ideas of tig8ht supplies remain based on more reports of reduced arrivals in Ivory Coast and Ghana continue. Mid crop harvest is now underway and here are hopes for additional supplies for the market from the second harvest. Demand continues to be strong, especially from traditional buyers of Cocoa.
Overnight News: Isolated showers are forecast for West Africa. Temperatures will be near normal. Malaysia and Indonesia should see scattered showers. Temperatures should average near normal. Brazil will get isolated showers and above normal temperatures. ICE NY said that 0 contracts were tendered for delivery against May futures and that total deliveries for the month are now 827 contracts.
Chart Trends: Trends in New York are mixed. Support is at 8700, 8330, and 8060 July, with resistance at 9600, 10210, and 11030 May. Trends in London are mixed. Support is at 7480, 7200, and 6460 July, with resistance at 8040, 8910, and 9160 July.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
The Corn & Ethanol Report. US Plantings & Weather Key
By: Daniel Flynn | April 30, 2024
We kickoff the last day of April with Employment Cost – Benefits QoQ, Employment Cost – Wages QoQ, and Employment Cost Index QoQ at 7:30 A.M., Redbook YoY at 7:55 A.M., S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price MoM & YoY, House Price Index MoM & YoY, and House Price Index at 8:00 A.M., Chicago PMI at 8:45 A.M., CB Consumer Confidence at 9:00 A.M., Dallas Fed Services Index and Dallas Fed Services Revenues Index at 9:30 A.M., API Energy Stocks at 3:30 P.M., and Day 1 FOMC Meeting.
The USDA’s April food inflation forecasts narrowed the range of expectations and lowered the average. The USDA estimated US food inflation in a range of 0.7% to 3.8%, with an average estimate of 2.2%. The upper end of the range was the lowest estimate since the 2024 estimates began in July 2023, the lower estimate was the highest. The average estimate of 2.2% was at a 3-month low. If realized, it will be the 2nd consecutive year of declining food inflation rates and the largest 2-year decline since 1976. While the rate of inflation is expected to decline, food prices will again reach a new all-time high in 2024. What can Biden-omics do for an encore. On the weather front corn farmers plantings got off to a good start with 27% planted vs. 23% last year and will want to get back in the fields provided the recent rainfall hopefully did not cause any flooding, ahead of round 2 of storms. We have a wetter forecast in the next 6-15 day period. An active pattern persists across the E Plains, Midwest, and Delta into the coming weekend, with additional rain chances being added May 8th to 10th . We also have Crop Production, USDA Supply/Demand, and WASDE on May 10th . Rainfall in the extended range is projected to favor areas east of the Mississippi River, with spotty showers advertised in the Dakota’s and Minnesota. It’s an outright wet forecast, and a lengthy period of warmth and dryness is desired mid-May onward. This morning we are coming in lower in the grain futures based on larger than expected deliveries in May soybean oil, wheat and soybeans.
The EPA/Biden Administration is expected to announce revised GREET model for measurement of carbon intensity of biofuel feedstocks today. The updated model was expected to be released in March but was delayed. The revised GREET model is critical to determining the eligibility of sustainable aviation fuel for new tax credits created by the Inflation Reduction Act. Key will be monitoring how US ethanol is scored and pathways forward to dropping its carbon score under 50%. To achieve a sub-50% carbon score requires US farmers adapting no till farming practices, plant a cover crop or start using precision fertilizer applications. There may be another delay in announcing the revised GREET model with the attention is on college riots taking front stage.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Making Russian Oil Great Again. The Energy Report
By: Phil Flynn | April 30, 2024
Oil prices, after dipping yesterday on cease fire talks, reacted to an announcement of the start of an important Canadian oil pipeline and a report that Biden will ease sanctions on Russian banks to allow energy deals to help keep prices lower headed into his election, are now back on the rise as geopolitical risk factors realities resurface. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning that, “Israel will enter city of Rafah in south Gaza to eliminate Hamas, with or without a ceasefire and hostage release deal.” Mr. Netanyahu says that they have begun evacuating Palestinians from Rafha in preparation for an upcoming operation. Hamas said they will respond in writing to Israel’s ceasefire proposal but are not giving a time as to when they will do so.
The market is now starting to realize that Israel’s attack on Rafha is a match that will be played and asked to increasingly worry about the fallout. This comes as Biden’s administration is showing signs of panic surrounding the potential price spike that may be coming ahead of the Presidential election.
Oil prices took a dip after the Treasury Department renewed sanction relief for at least 10 Russian banks, including the Central Bank, to allow energy-related operations amid rising energy cost. Bloomberg says that, “General License No. 8I allows Central Bank of the Russian Federation; Vnesheconombank; Otkritie; Sovcombank; Russia’s largest state-owned bank Sberbank; VTB Bank; the country’s top private bank Alfa-Bank; Rosbank; Zenit and Bank Saint-Petersburg to engage in production, refinement, transport, purchase of crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products. The License also allows for operations related to coal, agricultural products used to make biofuels, wood, uranium, development, production of power including nuclear, thermal and other sources.
This easing comes after the Biden administration discouraged Ukraine from hitting Russia where it hurts and that is their oil and gas sector. The pressure for Ukraine to quit attacking Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure comes because of that could cause prices to rise.
And of course, as I predicted, the so-called Russian price cap has become an abject failure. Bloomberg News is reporting, “A Group of Seven-imposed cap on the price of Russia oil is becoming increasingly unenforceable, an organization at the heart of the global insurance industry said, offering one of the most direct criticisms yet of measures that were meant to deprive the Kremlin of petrodollars. About 800 oil tankers that were previously covered by member organizations of the International Group of P&I Clubs have migrated into what’s known as a shadow-fleet, the club said in a written submission to a UK government inquiry on the effectiveness of sanctions on Russia. In addition, there’s no way for insurers to check whether traders are genuinely sticking to the price cap. The policy “appears increasingly unenforceable as more ships and associated services move into this parallel trade,” the International Group’s submission said. It “is concerned that increasing responsibility and obligations on companies in the G-7 coalition will result in a further migration of trade activities and ancillary services outside of the G-7.”
The other report that put a little downward pressure on prices was the long-awaited announcement of the start of the Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. Reuters reported that Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX) is set to enter partial operation on May 1, years behind schedule and at more than four times the original cost – but with the potential to affect oil flows even outside North America. The expanded pipeline will ship an extra 590,000 bpd from Alberta to Canada’s Pacific Coast, giving Canada’s heavy crude producers access to U.S. West Coast and Asian markets, and boosting prices for their grades. I guess this might be a good time to mention that the old Keystone XL pipeline would have been up and running for years helping to ease prices and improve the oil flow. Of course, somebody decided to kill the approval of that at the last minute, I wonder who that might be?
Behind all the drama, we’re also seeing signs of global demand that continues to be strong for oil and suggests a very tight global oil market. Saudi Arabia reportedly feels confident enough to raise prices for most oil grades to Asia. This comes as the OPEC secretary general suggests that crude oil demand will grow by 2.2 million barrels a day in 2024 and confirmed that OPEC production cuts are going to continue through the end of the year. So, more demand and less supplies are normally very bullish.
At the same time we’re continuing to get warnings about underinvestment in future supplies of oil and natural gas. A big part of the reason is politicians that are obsessed with climate targets and not reality. A couple years ago, when I was doing the speaking circuit at different events talking about oil, I used to get a lot of blowback from my thesis that the world was not going to run out of oil. In those days the thesis of “peak oil” was all the rage. Peak oil was the contention that conventional sources of crude oil had already been reached and we were about to reach maximum production capacity worldwide that was supposed to diminish significantly.
“Twilight in the Desert” was a bestselling book about peak oil production in Saudi Arabia and many people believed that the United States oil production was already in an irreversible decline and the country’s economy might collapse if we couldn’t find ways to import more supplies of natural gas. Yet I never believed those doom and gloom predictions and was what you might call a peak oil denier. They said I ignored science, and that oil was a finite resource. On and on they went.
Even though I was in the minority and took a lot of heat for it, I had a belief in the power of the market. That when prices got high enough, we would find a way to find more oil. I believe that the free market and free market capitalism would drive innovation and even though I might not have known exactly how it was going to play out, I knew that the world would not run out of oil anytime soon and probably not ever. Price and profit incentive would drive innovation and I knew that we would find a way.
Let us fast forward to a report yesterday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) that would have been the fantasy 20 years ago. The EIA reported that U.S. oil and natural gas reserves hit a record high this year. They said it couldn’t be done 20 years ago but the US oil and gas industry did it anyway. The EIA said that, “U.S. crude oil and lease condensate proved reserves increased 9% from 44.4 billion barrels to 48.3 billion barrels at year-end 2022. U.S. crude oil and lease condensate production increased 6% in 2022. In Texas, which has more proved reserves of crude oil and lease condensate than any other state, proved reserves increased 9% in 2022 (1.7 billion barrels), the largest net increase in any state).
In New Mexico, crude oil and lease condensate proved reserves increased 26%, the second-largest net increase (1.3 billion barrels). In North Dakota proved reserves increased 14%, the third-largest increase (0.6 billion barrels).
The 12-month, first-day-of-the-month average spot price for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil at Cushing, Oklahoma, increased by 43%, from $66.26 per barrel in 2021 to $94.54 per barrel in 2022.
Proved reserves of U.S. natural gas increased 10%, from 625.4 Tcf at year-end 2021 to 691.0 Tcf at year-end 2022, establishing a new record for natural gas proved reserves in the United States for a second consecutive year. Natural gas proved reserves in Alaska increased 25% in 2022, raising that state’s total from 99.8 Tcf to 125.2 Tcf—the largest increase of all states in 2022.
Natural gas did get a bit of a bounce and stational electric demand hit a near record high for this time of year. Early season cooling demand in the southeast is causing prices to go a bit higher. In 2022, U.S. natural gas exports were 6.9 Tcf, the highest volume on record. Cheap natural gas prices also had a part in lowering the demand for wind generated electricity which fell for the first time since 1990s. U.S. electricity generation from wind turbines decreased for the first time since the mid-1990s in 2023 despite the addition of 6.2 gigawatts (GW) of new wind capacity last year. Data from our Power Plant Operations Report show that U.S. wind generation in 2023 totaled 425,235 gigawatthours (GWh), 2.1% less than the 434,297 GWh generated in 2022.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
The rapid unwinding in cocoa is what happens when speculators get trapped in over-leveraged positions
By: Jason Goepfert | April 30, 2024
• The rapid unwinding in cocoa is what happens when speculators get trapped in over-leveraged positions.
Now just wonder what could happen in the yen as specs are pushing record short positions against (even as % of open interest).
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Commodities Daily Market Movers (% Price Change)
By: Marty Armstrong | April 30, 2024
• Top Movers
NY Natural Gas Futures 5.56 %
Platinum / Gold Ratio 5.13 %
NY Platinum Futures 4.27 %
Sugar World (CSCE) Futures 3.61 %
Zinc 3.58 %
• Bottom Movers
Eggs 16.18 %
Cocoa (NYCSCE) Futures 15.7 %
Oats (Minneapolis) 4.28 %
Soybean Oil CBT Futures 2.57 %
Wheat CBT Futures 2.22 %
*Close from the last completed Daily
DiscoverGold
Natural Gas Bullish Momentum Continues
By: Bruce Powers | April 29, 2024
• With a breakout above 2.01, natural gas is eyeing targets at 2.07 and then 2.20, supported by a potential retracement to 2.22 before aiming for the 200-Day MA at 2.49.
Natural gas rose above Friday’s high on Monday before triggering a breakout above the top of a symmetrical triangle at 2.01 (B). The high of the day at the time of this writing was 2.04, which was followed by an intraday pullback. Of interest will be the daily close.
A daily close above 2.01 will be a stronger sign of strength than a close below it as it would confirm the breakout above (B). Also, keep an eye on today’s close relative to Friday’s high. Once a daily close above 2.01 confirms the bullish breakout, natural gas should be ready to proceed towards higher target areas.
Upside Targets
The first upside target is close by at 2.07. If hit, it will complete an initial target for a rising ABCD pattern that is identifying price symmetry between the AB and CD legs of the advance. However, since it is close to the top of a symmetrical triangle higher prices remain on the radar. The second target from the ABCD pattern is 2.20. That target completes an ABCD pattern where the CD leg is extended by 127.2% of the AB portion of the advance.
It begins with a target range from 2.07 to the prior December 13 swing low at 2.24. Inside that price range is the completion of a 38.2% Fibonacci retracement at 2.24. Generally, a 38.2% retracement is usually the more common minimum retracement that might be seen. This means that since natural gas is showing improving strength, the 38.2% retracement should eventually be reached, at a minimum.
Signs of Strength
Last Friday natural gas rose above the lower dashed blue channel line before ending the day below it. Today, it is on track to close above it for the first time. The lower line is parallel to the top falling dashed blue line that connects the October and January swing highs. Further, natural gas is set to end on Monday at its highest daily closing price since February 5. If the top of the first target zone at 2.235 is exceeded, the next higher zone is around the 200-Day MA, currently at 2.49. It is further anchored by the 50% retracement at 2.46.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
The Corn & Ethanol Report
By: Daniel Flynn | April 29, 2024
We kickoff the day with Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index at 9:30 A.M., Export Inspections at 10:00 A.M., 3-Month & 6-Month Bill Auction at 10:30 A.M., Treasury Refunding Financing Estimates at 2:00 P.M., and Crop Progress at 3:00 P.M.
What we see ahead so far this week is FOMC Meeting tomorrow and decision on rates on Wednesday. The guess is the FED may just hold rates in check, after some Fed officials hawkish stand on rates panicked the market suggesting rate hikes are back in the fold but my bet the FED keeps it’s powder dry. And Friday we will have the Unemployment data, that yet again, is in a total disconnect. The so-called jobs added are not supposed to count illegal aliens employment, and the next question, are the illegals immigrants paying taxes? JOLT’s number are starting to be in disconnect as well. Now the FED’s preferred inflation indicator, the Personal Consumption Expenditure Index, came in hotter than expected, with an annualized inflation rate of 2.7%, the highest in 5 months. The PCE Index also set new all-time high in March. Nevertheless, the PCE inflation rate has been below the long-term average for 6 consecutive months. What is concerning is that while the inflation rate is allegedly in retreat, the savings rate has yet to pick up. The savings rate to a 14-yaer low of 2.7% in June 2022 and average savings rate of 8.4%. The March figure was the lowest since November of 2022. If prices are indeed declining, where are consumer funds going? Talking with several economists, they expect a rate cut in September ahead of the November Presidential election. The basis of their guesstimates is if the FED does not cut rates before the election, it will open up a nasty political football. Now Biden says he will strike yet another Trump era that helped the economy roll. He has an extremely bad record of breaking things that are not broken. Whatever the administration is peddling TAX CUTS WORK. The proof is in the pudding with President Kennedy was the first President to do so it also worked for Reagan, Bush the second, and Trump. On the corn front traders will be following cash basis in corn for sale.
Severe storms ripped through the heartland over the weekend covering 16 states and a tornado count of 137 in a 24 hour period. They are getting boots on the ground to further access the damage and the damage would leave anyone in awe. There is another snow storm forming over the Rockies and Tuesday and Wednesday are forecast for Round 2 in the same areas. Are prayers are with all affected by the Act of God. Fridays open interest fell 39,164 contracts in corn, 32,868 contracts of soybeans with funds overall buyers of 18,861 contracts of soybeans but overall was a liquidating market with May First Notice Day tomorrow. Wheat sold off as well and new fund interest is showing in soybean meal. We seem to be waiting for another event to set the market tone.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Oil Coil. The Energy Report
By: Phil Flynn | April 29, 2024
Oil prices are coiling as the market tries to determine whether a push by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to convince Hamas to release hostages in return for a cease fire will bear any fruit. Mr. Blinken says that Hamas needs to decide, and it needs to decide quickly, on what he says is a proposal that is extremely generous. Mr. Blinken is also warning Israel that they need to do more to get humanitarian aid into Gaza.
While the market has seen some easing of risk premium as the threat of a direct confrontation between Israel and Iran has gone away, the ongoing drama in the continuing risk of supply against what should be record-breaking demand is going to keep the market well supported. There is a little bit of concern about Chinese demand that last month hit a 13-month low and talk that Iran is having a harder time moving their barrels of oil. Is it possible that Iran is having a harder time moving their barrels of oil because demand is slowing or is it possible that people are starting to find Iranian oil a little bit too hot to handle. This all comes against a backdrop of tightening global supply and more pressure by many in congress to actually enforce sanctions on Iran, a novel idea as far as the Biden administration is concerned. Energy Tidbits reported that global oil in floating storage fell by 32.67 million barrels in the last two weeks to just 16.64 million barrels of oil.
The other concern for Biden is rising inflation and gasoline prices that according to Triple A have eased a bit coming in at $3.659 which is a bit higher than yesterday but 2 cents lower than a week ago. That’s still 5 cents higher a gallon than a year ago. This comes as a CNN poll shows that 61% of Americans believe Biden’s presidency is a failure. The growing pressure on Biden to do something about gasoline prices could lead to another Strategic Petroleum Reserve release as the administration has already hinted, they may do just that. Yet that will be met with a lot of dissension from the Republicans who realized that the damage that the Biden administration has done by misusing the strategic reserve is going to cost taxpayers a lot of money over the long run.
In the short run supplies in the US should tighten again this week. We are looking for a 3-million-barrel drawdown in crude oil supplies and we’re looking for a 2 million barrel drop in distillate inventories and a 1 million barrel drop in gasoline inventories. We are also looking for refinery runs to uptick by 0.5%.
The risk of products going higher is still high. Tass, the Russian news agency, reported that the Slavyansk refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai, which was attacked by Ukrainian drones on 27 April, has been forced to suspend some operations. “The plant’s operations have been partially suspended. Exactly 10 UAVs flew directly into the territory of the refinery, causing a severe fire. There may be some undetected damage,” said Eduard Trudnev, the security director of the company that operates the Slavyansk refinery, as quoted by Tass. It is not reported which operations have been suspended or whether the plant is operating at all.
Reuters also reported that, “The U.S. military said on Sunday it had engaged five unmanned drones over the Red Sea that, “presented an imminent threat to U.S. coalition and merchant vessels in the region. “U.S. Central Command did not say in the statement if the drones were destroyed. Marine Log reported that, “After a period with few reports of Houthi activity, the Iranian-backed group has resumed its targeting of merchant shipping, with Al Arabiya and other regional news outlets quoting the Houthi’s military spokesman as saying the group had attacked the “U.S. ship Maersk Yorktown and an American destroyer in the Gulf of Aden and Israeli ship MSC Veracruz in the Indian Ocean.” According to U.S. Central Command: “At 11:51 a.m. (Sanaa time) on April 24, a coalition vessel successfully engaged one anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) launched from Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas in Yemen over the Gulf of Aden. The ASBM was likely targeting the MV Maersk Yorktown, a U.S.-flagged, owned, and operated vessel with 18 U.S. and four Greek crew members. There were no injuries or damage reported by U.S., coalition, or commercial ships.”
When you look at the preponderance of market action, it seems like the oil market as well as the petroleum products are coiling for a potential big move. We think the risk of an upside move is more likely.
Natural gas has some glut issues to deal with. EBW analytics reported that Freeport LNG’s false start raised demand-side concerns into early May to amplify the downturn. Although weakness appears likely to linger in the near term, however, dry gas production continuing to grind lower may offer notable upside potential into mid-summer. For the natural gas market, we’re looking for a 92 BC injection this week.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
The Bull Case For Commodities Is As Strong As Ever
By: Jesse Felder | April 26, 2024
Below are some of the most interesting articles, quotes and charts I came across this week. Click here to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter and get this post delivered to your inbox each Saturday morning.
The bull case for commodities is as strong as ever.
Commodity prices are moving higher driven by the following:
— Jesse Felder (@jessefelder) April 25, 2024
1) Reaccelerating US growth
2) Geopolitical uncertainty
3) Segmentation of global trade, and
4) Strong AI demand for energyhttps://t.co/Xn4xKGpboB pic.twitter.com/nefZvogVAj
US Oil & Gas stocks are historically cheap to the broader market. pic.twitter.com/AwlMXIWzCj
— Bob Elliott (@BobEUnlimited) April 21, 2024
"Shale has redrawn the map of world oil in a way most people don't seem to understand. It has changed not only the supply-demand balance but it has changed the geopolitical balance and the psychological balance." -Daniel Yergin https://t.co/KW5zx9fbc3 pic.twitter.com/FCi4g1g14B
— Jesse Felder (@jessefelder) April 23, 2024
'Valuations of the world's gold producers, led by Newmont and Barrick, have rarely been as heavily discounted in the past 40 years versus the gold price as they are now.' https://t.co/tk5OLBdy5n pic.twitter.com/12lidOsnpV
— Jesse Felder (@jessefelder) April 26, 2024
"Another wage-price spiral attributable to rising oil prices would be very reminiscent of the Great Inflation of the 1970s, when the price of gold soared. In this scenario, $3,500 per ounce would be a realistic target for gold through 2025." -@yardeni https://t.co/5eINSEOqHq
— Jesse Felder (@jessefelder) April 21, 2024
The Corn & Ethanol Report
By: Daniel Flynn | April 26, 2024
We kickoff the day with Core PCE Price Index MoM & YoY, PCE Price Index MoM & YoY, Personal Income, and Personal Spending at 7:30 A.M., Michigan Consumer Sentiment Final, Michigan 5-Year Inflation Expectations Final, Michigan Consumer Expectations Final, Michigan Current Conditions Final, and Michigan Inflation Expectations Final at 9:00 A.M., and Baker Hughes Oil & Total Rig Count at 12:00 P.M.
It’s the economy stupid! It’s the Border! Yesterday the street had pegged GDP at roughly up 2.5 %, which is anemic in itself. But the reality came in at 1.6% which is just pitiful. Federal debt continues to outpace GDP by a wide margin. If it were not for government spending, the US GDP would be deeply negative. Taxpayers and actual US citizens covering migrant debit cards and migrant employment that is counted in Unemployment should not count illegal aliens to be counted in the workforce. Now we face a huge dilemma for the US taxpayer – and can the US economy can grow without creating massive piles of new debt. Add in $1 trillion of new US debt every 100 days argues that a debt crisis will emerge for the US in the years ahead. Can the current administration curb spending and realize they doing the opposite of balancing the budget? The line is off in Vegas.
Corn futures ended slightly higher as an early end of Brazil’s wet season threatens yields. Brazilian new crop corn sales as of late April are scrapping along at decade lows. US corn stays competitive in the global marketplace through July. Brazil is not producing a serious export offer until August. Weather in the Central US remains favorable. Widespread planting will continue for another 24 hours before soaking rainfall blanket the Central Plains, Midwest, and Delta. Fieldwork halts nearby, but drought will be nearly eliminated in from E KS, MO, and Pockets of IA. Rainfall of 2-4” is forecast into Monday & Tuesday with additional rain thereafter.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Natural Gas Upside Breakout from Consolidation, Eyes Higher Levels
By: Bruce Powers | April 26, 2024
• Natural gas reverses higher, breaking out of a triangle pattern and testing resistance near 2.01.
Natural gas reverses higher on Friday, following an initial breakdown from a symmetrical triangle consolidation pattern yesterday. The reversal triggered an upside breakout of the triangle with an advance above the 1.94 swing high from April 10. Resistance was seen just shy of the 2.01 swing high from March 5 at the day’s high of 2.00, leading to an intraday pullback.
A test of support around the top boundary line of the triangle is in process with a low for the day of 1.91, at the time of this writing. However, be aware that today’s gap up bullish reversal may be influenced by the change in the future’s contract as the chart shown is for continuous futures.
Out of Symmetrical Triangle, Eyes Higher Levels
The 1.94 swing high matches the previous trend low from April 2023 at 1.95. Therefore, it has some longer-term significance. It was exceeded to the upside over several days in early-March but there was no close above that price level. This means that a daily close above 1.95 will provide a sign of increasing demand and that a breakout above the 2.01 swing high is a bullish signal.
Also, notice that today’s advance exceeded the lower dashed blue declining parallel channel line, another sign of strength. Further, the trendline on the relative strength index momentum oscillator (RSI) was busted to the upside today. Nevertheless, what happens in the coming days will be more revealing than today’s price action.
Further Confirmation of Strength Needed
It doesn’t look like today will end above the 1.94 swing low. So, moving forward a daily close above that price level will provide confirmation of strength. And, on a daily close above the lower blue channel line, although it is more of a sign of strength rather than a reliable signal.
There are several upside price levels to watch, and more details will be discussed in the future. For now, the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement completes at 2.22. That area is also highlighted by the swing low from mid-December. If there is a rally above 2.01, higher targets become more likely of being tested.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Coffee Hits All-Time High
By: Barchart | April 26, 2024
• Coffee Hits All-Time High
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Stag Party. The Energy Report
By: Phil Flynn | April 26, 2024
Stagger Lee shot Billy DeLions and he blew that poor guy down. Yesterday’s gross domestic product showed higher inflation and lower growth than expected which brings back the memories of that 70s melody called stagflation wand blew that poor stock market down. Yet despite the turmoil, petroleum products remained resilient.
The US economy grew at just 1.6%, the slowest pace in almost two years, rising 3.4% in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Economic forecasts had called for a deceleration of growth over the previous month, with the expectation that the economy would expand by 2.4%, according to a Reuters report. Janet Yellen, later in the day, tried to put a positive spin on the numbers claiming that the economy is really stronger than the numbers suggest. While that is partially true, it doesn’t explain away the sticky inflation. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, excluding food and energy prices — a key metric the Federal Reserve tracks to measure inflation — increased by 3.7% after rising to 2% in the fourth quarter. Inflation is going to be one of the biggest challenges for central bankers.
Oil prices shook off stagflation fears and rallied late in the session after trading down after the GDP report because overall the fundamentals for oil are looking more bullish. Not only do we have to price in geopolitical tensions going into the weekend, we also have to be concerned about the looming supply shortage that we are seeing in the global marketplace that will see all-time record demand next month.
Reports that Israel is stepping up its attacks in Gaza as they prepare for the Rafah invasion and the ongoing concerns about Ukraine’s attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure, has geopolitical risk factors that continue to support prices. The World Bank is warning that a conflict in the Middle East could push the price of oil above $100 a barrel and that could reverse the recent downtrend in global inflation. They said that the recent drop and commodity prices have been leveling off even before the missile strikes in Iran and Israel, but they acknowledge that the complexity of rising commodity prices is going to make global central banks jobs more difficult especially when it comes to reversing the historic amount of interest rate increases. The World Bank is predicting that crude oil prices will average $84 a barrel this year but be careful because any disruptions could cause prices to spike.
On further review, the Energy Information Administration report is very supportive and while a lot of people are concerned about the weakness in US gasoline demand the record exports continue to support this market. The administration is very worried about the potential for a gasoline price spike going into the election and yesterday’s gross domestic product number didn’t help the overall mood of the market. Tanker trackers is reporting though that there’s been a record amount of ship-to-ship transfers totaling 116,000,000 barrels of Iranian crude oil worth $1.4 billion pre discount and were visually identified in the South China Sea all headed to China. The Biden administration continues to turn a blind eye to Iranian oil sanctions and even though the passage of new sanctions should allow it, Biden should really crack down on Iran. In fact, they have the tools to crack down on Iran, but they refuse to do so.
The Biden administration did impose new sanctions on Venezuela. It appears it’s not going to slow down Venezuelans oil exports completely. Not only will it not impact Venezuelan oil exports, they are already moving to cut deals with other countries.
Bloomberg News reports that, ”Spanish oil major Repsol SA expects production to climb with the addition of two oil fields in a joint venture with Venezuela, where the company is exempt from reimposed US sanctions. The company recently signed a deal with state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA that adds the fields to its operations, which in the next few months are expected to produce 20,000 barrels a day, doubling what the European major currently produces in one of its three ventures, Chief Executive Officer Josu Jon Imaz said in a call with investors Thursday. The expansion agreement was signed hours before the US reimposed sanctions last week on Venezuela’s oil and gas activities. Companies such as Repsol and Italy’s Eni SpA have said previously arranged waivers with the US government allow them to continue operating. The waivers allow Repsol “to continue operations as we have been doing so far, even with sanctions in force,” the CEO said.
How’s that green energy transition going for you. In Europe competitors are making energy decisions based on politics and not reality and is causing a huge backlash in the region. Not only have we seen riots break out with farmers angry about green energy regulations but now it appears that the EU once again has to pull back on some of its green energy mandates. There are reports that the EU countries are going to reverse a distilled fuel tax that had angered farmers that essentially could put them out of business. In the meantime, the German economy is struggling because of its green energy short sightedness mayor. This is a country that says that they want a carbon free future but then went ahead and closed down their nuclear power plants. Has the entire world lost all common reason and sense?
Reuters reports that The European Commission’s next sanctions package is expected to propose restrictions on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the first time, including a ban on trans-shipments in the EU and measures on three Russian LNG projects, three EU sources said. The Commission is in the final stages of ironing out its proposal and is engaged in informal talks with member states this week. The Commission declined to comment.
The new oil market action is very positive and the big question is how much of this is going to be geopolitical risk premium and how much of it is going to be based off supply and demand. We think that the market is still undervalued based on supply and demand and we think the talk of a huge geopolitical risk premium is overstated. While there’s no doubt there’s some geopolitical risk premium in the price of oil, there are reports saying it could be as much as $5.00 or $10.00 a barrel and that seems to be very high based upon the supply and demand realities that we face. For most of this year we have expected a supply deficit going into this part of the year and apparently it looks like that’s where we are headed. This is why we’ve been recommending staying hedged for most of this year and we still believe that there is upside price risk going into the end of the year and it could be significant.
Natural gas is trying once again to find some support even in the face of a very bearish weekly injection report. The supply glut is real and one of the big problems we continue to have with the natural gas market is Freeport LNG. Reduce flows to Freeport is a concern for this market because of the oversupply. We need to move as much gas as we can and it does not help when Freeport is down. The market is looking ahead to expanded Langport capacity in the future but the uncertainty surrounding the Biden administration’s study on LNG exports is going to continue to discourage investment in US energy.
Reuters reported that the second-largest U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility has been running below 80% of its capacity due to technical problems, data from financial firm LSEG showed, denting U.S. exports. Since Jan. 15, Freeport LNG’s Quintana, Texas, liquefaction plant has been operating without at least one of its three gas-processing trains. In the last two weeks, it has taken barely enough gas for one of its trains to fully operate.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Sugar fell to its lowest price since January 2023
By: Barchart | April 25, 2024
• Sugar fell to its lowest price since January 2023.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Natural Gas Will Support Hold or Breakdown Continue?
By: Bruce Powers | April 25, 2024
• Natural gas broke down from a symmetrical triangle, finding support at 1.60. Monthly support is at 1.59.
Natural gas breaks down from a symmetrical triangle on a drop below Wednesday’s low before finding support at 1.60 and bouncing. The high for the day was 1.675, which completed a test of resistance at the long-term downtrend line. Support is around the most recent swing low of 1.59. If broken to the downside and natural gas stays below it, lower prices may be coming.
Breakdown in Play
The trend low of 1.52 from February is a significant support level going back 29 years. Although a breakdown from consolidation has triggered, downside follow through is key. Will selling pressure accelerate or support hold and eventually turn prices higher? There are no signs of it yet, but this possibility remains. A bullish sign will next be indicated on a rally above today’s high (at time of this writing) of 1.675. The key near term resistance level of significant is this week’s high of 1.84. Once there is a daily close above that price level the possibility of an upside continuation improves.
Monthly Support May Continue to Hold
Monthly support is also at the 1.59 swing low. During April natural gas has remained within the range from March forming a possible second sequential inside month. Therefore, a sustained breakdown below 1.59, if it occurs before the end of the month, will trigger an inside month breakdown from March. That’s a bearish signal that could be followed by an expansion of volatility.
Strong Support at or Above 1.52 May Continue
As noted above, the 1.52 price level is significant and may continue to act as support. Consequently, if volatility expands there is a possibility the 1.52 level is broken. If that happens the next lower target is around 1.44, a 29-year low. However, there is another price area to watch at 1.49. That is the target from an extended retracement of the six-month rally that began from the prior trend low a year ago.
Contraction in Volatility
If April ends without a breakdown below last month’s low, there will be two inside months further highlighting the decline in volatility experienced recently. As price compresses it prepares for its next move and a pickup in volatility. That could come from a bounce off monthly support or a breakdown.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Supplying The World. The Energy Report
By: Phil Flynn | April 25, 2024
While the US oil and gas industry continues to get bashed by the Biden administration, the reality is that the US oil and gas industry is providing supply stability to the global economy. US petroleum exports hit 12,094 million barrels a day which is an all-time record high but gasoline demand in the US is tepid at best. Still, global economic growth continues to suggest that global oil demand will break records next month and if that demand is going to be met, it will be because of the efforts of the US oil and gas industry.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported the first US crude draw in 5 weeks, and it was a whopper, down 6.4 million barrels to 453.6 million barrels, in what may be the first of many. Gasoline demand though continues to be weak in a sign that consumers are feeling the pain of inflation as the demand over the last four weeks averaged 8.7 million barrels a day, down by 3.7% from the same period last year.
Yet gasoline inventories still fell by 600,000 barrels from last week and are about 4% below the five-year average as we exported 778.000 overseas. Distillate fuel inventories did increase by 1.6 million barrels last week and are about 7% below the five-year average for this time of year.
The world is becoming more reliant on the United States energy producer to fill the void in the global market that was partly created by bad energy policy in Europe that led to the war in Ukraine. And there are open worries from our trading partners that Biden’s policies in restricting production and by pausing liquefied natural gas exports terminals, is going to leave our trading partners and the global economy in a precarious state.
This comes as we are seeing warnings that the geopolitical risk factors surrounding oil and gas have not gone away and warnings from trading partners in Europe that the natural gas crisis may reappear next winter. The tightening supply situation comes against high anxiety and geopolitical risk factors that may get worse before it is better. Bloomberg reports that, “European Gas Traders Are Already Worrying About Next Winter and that Gas capacity deals at Russia-Ukraine border set to end and that Next winter gas is trading at a premium to all other contracts. They write that, “While demand remains muted and the region exited the heating season with the highest stocks on record, industry players gathering at the Flame conference in Amsterdam this week see risks mounting. And prices are responding. Worries include uncertainty over remaining Russian flows through Ukraine and rebounding gas demand in Asia. A colder-than-normal winter spurring consumption at home is also seen as more likely after two consecutive mild ones. The concerns are showing up in the futures market. The contracts for next winter are the most expensive on the curve.
A Rigzone report says that, “recent reports indicate that Iran intends to disrupt operations in the Strait of Hormuz, Dryad Global stated in its latest Maritime Security Threat Advisory (MSTA), which was released on April 22. “The most recent incident, the seizure of the MSC Aries, demonstrates that Iran, despite being preoccupied with missile operations against Israel, continues to interdict and control vessel movement in the Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf, and Arabian Sea,” Dryad noted in the MSTA.
Of course the Biden administration despite their policies that make oil and gas prices go higher, continue to insist they want to do things to get prices lower and we must admit that maybe they’ve succeeded in one area and that area would be Venezuela. Bloomberg reported that, “Chinese refiners are paying a little less for Venezuelan oil after the US reimposed sanctions on the South American producer. Merey crude, often used to make bitumen to pave roads in China, traded at a discount of $14 a barrel to ICE Brent in recent days on a delivered basis, according to traders. That compares to $11 before sanctions were reinstated last week, and $8 at the start of the year. China’s likely to draw more barrels from Venezuela after the US discontinued its six-month sanctions waiver, as other buyers, including India, shun embargoed oil to avoid run-ins with Washington. An average of 130,000 barrels a day previously bought by Indian refiners and 174,000 barrels a day of US-bound shipments could now be redirected to the world’s biggest crude importer, according to data intelligence firm Kpler.”
Reports of fires at refineries in Russia and Mexico are other reasons to be bullish for oil and products and we are not the only ones that are predicting record demand. Standard Chartered just put out a note that said that they expect that global oil demand will pick up strongly in May and June and will exceed 103 million barrels a day for the first time in May.
Once again, the preponderance of evidence continues to suggest there is significant risk of upside price movements in crude oil, gasoline and diesel over the coming weeks. We do think we’ll see a bounce back in US demand for gasoline when the weather starts to warm up, but the global demand will continue to keep US supplies very tight. Our global partners continue to be astonished how the United States it’s continuing to make politically motivated decisions to appease the environmental base while the global economy hangs in the balance.
Sure, you can contact me to find ways to hedge and trade this coming crisis. The commodity Supercycle is coming into play once again and copper recourse is one of the markets that we have to keep a real close eye on. Bloomberg reported that, “BHP Group Ltd. proposed a takeover of Anglo-American Plc that values the smaller miner at £31.1 billion ($38.9 billion), in a deal that would create the world’s top copper producer while sparking the industry’s biggest shakeup in over a decade. The No. 1 mining company proposed an all-share deal in which Anglo would first spin off controlling stakes in South African platinum and iron ore companies to its shareholders before being acquired by BHP. The total per-share value of the non-binding proposal is about £25.08, BHP said, a 14% premium to Anglo’s closing share price on Wednesday. A tie-up with Anglo would give BHP roughly 10% of global copper mine supply ahead of an expected shortage that many market watchers have predicted will send prices soaring.”
We do have natural gas inventories today and we’re expecting to see an injection of 85 BCF. The industry is going through some significant challenges domestically. The Biden administration needs to start signaling to the world that we are going to continue to be the world’s largest liquefied natural gas exporter. We need to stop playing politics with US energy and get back to reality that natural gas is going to be the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in emerging markets along with increase use of nuclear power.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Wheat hits highest closing price in more than 3 months
By: Barchart | April 24, 2024
• Wheat hits highest closing price in more than 3 months.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Natural Gas Faces Breakdown Risk Amid Symmetrical Triangle Pattern
By: Bruce Powers | April 24, 2024
• Natural gas price faces a critical juncture as it tests support within a symmetrical triangle pattern, with implications for a potential breakdown. The current price action highlights the challenges of relying on patterns within consolidation.
Natural gas turns down and drops to a five-day low as heads towards a test of support at the lower boundary line of a symmetrical triangle. At this time of this writing the low for the day was 1.63, and trading continues near the lows. Today’s bearish reversal is occurring within a symmetrical triangle consolidation pattern, so the implications are less than if today’s bearish action occurred in a different part of the trend. However, that will change if a breakdown triggers a decisive decline below the lower boundary line. The prior swing low of 1.65 from last week has already failed to provide support.
Weekly Support Fails
This puts the weekly bullish reversal of a hammer candlestick pattern that triggered on Wednesday at risk of failure. If the 1.63 price level is the lowest for the day, a drop below it will trigger a breakdown of the triangle pattern. Clearer bearish confirmation is indicated on a decline below the 1.59 swing low from March 25. The next lower target would then be the trend low of 1.52. That is the second lowest support level seen in natural gas in about 29 years. The lowest was 1.44 seen intraday, but the price quickly recovered, and the day ended back above the 1.52 level. In other words, 1.52 is a significant support area.
Support Seen at Bottom of Triangle
Today’s bearish price action is an example of why patterns within consolidation are less reliable to follow through. That is what is happening today following five days of positive performance and a strong close yesterday. It looks like today’s test of support at the lower boundary line may be the lowest price for the day thereby providing a third touch of the line. If it continues to act as support a bullish reversal may yet take natural gas back up towards the top line of the triangle.
Reaction Following Test of Support to Provide Clues
Thursday’s closing price will provide a clue. If natural gas can end the day above last week’s low of 1.65 it will be a slightly stronger close than being below last week’s low. But what happens next should provide further clarity. Either natural gas bounces off today’s low or breaks through it triggering a breakdown of the triangle.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Not Over. The Energy Report
By: Phil Flynn | April 24, 2024
Oil prices rebounded yesterday from signs that the geopolitical tension may not have eased as much as previously believed. After the close we saw the American Petroleum Institute (API) report that petroleum supplies came in tighter than the market was expecting. The API reported the crude oil inventories fell by 3.23 million barrels where the market expectation was that they were going to increase by 1.8 million barrels. We also saw a 595,000 barrel drop in gasoline inventories and distillate inventories eked out a gain of 724,000. Attacks on Russian oil infrastructure and commitments by Russia to lower oil production and keep exports steady should provide some support for diesel. We did see some weakness in a report that Chinese refinery runs fell by 919 kb/d to a seven-month low but that could be offset by signs that maybe this week US demand is going to look robust, at least compared to recent weeks.
The reduction of the war premium in oil came when it appeared that the global tensions between Israel and Iran had calmed down, yet that war premium is creeping back in on reports as Israel is warning civilians to get out of Rafah as they prepare an invasion. Reports say that Israel is getting ready to find tents for Palestinian civilians they intend to evacuate before the invasion. There’s also some speculation that Israel’s response Iran’s attack isn’t over yet and it’s just biding its time before it sends Iran a real message.
The House and Senate passed new sanctions on Iran. Last week Biden announced sanctions against Iranian steel and drone companies as well as 16 individuals on Thursday in response to last weekend’s aerial attack by Tehran against Israel. Yet the Biden administration is fearful to enforce sanctions on Iran? At first it was an attempt to appease Iran to try to cajole them into a new Iranian nuclear accord that supposedly fixed all the problems with the previous accord that President Trump rightly pulled out of. Now it appears that Iran just used the negotiations to fortify their economic position and their oil production and now it is seeing their exports hit a six-year high. Iran used its Biden oil windfall of course to fund their operations and support groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels.
While the Biden administration fails to enforce sanctions on Iran, the truth is that innovation in the oil and gas industry in the US could replace Iranian oil production if there was incentive to do so. Reuters reported that, “Technology advances are making it possible for U.S. shale oil and gas companies to reverse years of productivity declines, but the related requirement to frontload costs by drilling many more wells is deterring some companies from doing so. While overall output is at record levels, the amount of oil recovered per foot drilled in the Permian Basin of Texas, the main U.S. shale formation, fell 15% from 2020 to 2023, putting it on par with a decade ago, according to energy researcher Enverus.
Reuters writes that, “That is because fracking, the extraction method that emerged in the mid-2000s, has become less efficient there. In the technique, water, sand and chemicals are injected at high pressure underground to release the trapped resources. Two decades of drilling wells relatively close together, resulting in hundreds of thousands of wells, have interfered with underground pressure and made getting oil out of the ground more difficult. “Wells are getting worse and that is going to continue,” said Dane Gregoris, managing director at Enverus Intelligence Research firm.
But new oilfield innovations, which began being implemented more widely last year, have made it possible for fracking to be faster, less expensive and higher yielding. The advances in the past few years include the ability to double the length of lateral wells to three miles and equipment that can simultaneously frack two or three wells. Electric pumps can replace high-cost, high maintenance diesel equipment. “Companies now can complete (frack) wells faster and cheaper,” said Betty Jiang, an oil analyst with Barclays.
A drawback to the new simultaneous fracking technology, also called simul-frac, is that companies need to have lots of wells drilled and ready to move to the fracking phase in unison before they can proceed. Pumps inject fluids into and get oil and gas out of two or three wells at the same time, instead of just one. Because these act as an interconnected system, wells cannot be added piecemeal. But companies eager to cut costs have not deployed enough drill rigs to capitalize fully on the potential of the innovations.”
The Biden administration is very anti fossil fuel production in the United States. While they are trying to take credit for record oil and gas production, it’s clear that most of the gains have been made by innovation by the oil and gas industry and most of it has been done on private lands. Private oil and gas companies have been flourishing despite the attempts by the Biden administration to accuse them of war profiteering and price gouging. Matador Resources Co. pumped more oil than expected in the first three months of 2024 at a time when most US producers have pledged flat to moderate output growth this year.
Bloomberg reports that Matador’s 2% production over-performance to start the year was done while spending less money on drilling than projected, the company said. During the first quarter of 2024, Matador’s average oil production of 84,777 barrels per day beat its guidance of 83,500 barrels, the company said. “We now expect full-year production for 2024 at the high end of our previously announced average production guidance for oil of 91,000 to 95,000 barrels of oil per day,” the statement said.
The commodity super cycle comes in waves. Coffee and cocoa are making historic moves and industrial and precious metals are back in vogue. Major players have been taking notice and shifting their investments back to the futures. Bloomberg News is reporting that, “Some of the world’s biggest energy trading companies are returning to metals, years after getting burnt in the notoriously difficult markets. Vitol Group, Gunvor Group and Mercuria Energy Group are among the traders building out their metal’s teams, as they look to deploy capital generated by record profits. The shift comes as forecasters turn increasingly bullish on copper, aluminum and other metals, where long-anticipated production shortfalls are starting to take shape. Many commodities house’s also see strong links between metals usage and power markets — another growth area for traders according to Bloomberg.
What are we going to do with the electric car glut. The Biden administration says that we are in a race with China to control the EV market. The problem is that the Chinese consumers, like the American consumers, just don’t not want them. Oh sure, the International Energy Agency claims that, “over 20% of global car sales this year are projected to be electric, driving a transformative shift in the auto industry and cutting oil use for transport.” Yet these are the same folks that predicted that global oil demand would peak years ago.
Reuters reported that, “By most measures, the last thing China needs is more electric cars crowding a market with more losers than winners, driving down prices at the expense of profit and taking the fight for market share beyond China. And that’s just what it is getting. Automakers are expected to launch 110 EVs and plug-in hybrids in 2024, many at the Beijing auto show that starts Thursday. Those new offerings, dominated by Chinese brands, will join By contrast, there were just over 50 EV models on sale in the United States last year. But while there is a peril in China’s overcapacity, there is also a power in the hyper-competition it has unleashed, analysts, suppliers and executives say. China’s leading EV makers have found ways to slash vehicle development time, combining speed to market with new features and a pricing advantage rivals outside cannot match. the almost 400 “new energy” models already in China’s showrooms, according to industry data.” But the main problem is still sales, which even though they are growing in China, are not growing at the pace to get rid of the oversupply. And there doesn’t appear to be any plan to deal with the batteries once they start to go bad in 10 years.
Natural gas is still trying to put in a little bit of a bottom here. It has a tough road ahead. We are looking for an injection of 85 BCF this week.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
$Wheat has exploded... from 523.50 about 8 weeks ago to today at 597
$Natgas is looking primed. TY
Wheat jumps 28¢ in the last 2 sessions.
Agriculture Master Report
By: Bill Moore | April 23, 2024
JULY WHEAT
A plethora of bullish fundamentals have driven July Wht to two month highs – including historical cheapness, dryness in the US Southern Plains & Russia & military strikes into Ukraine perpetrated by Russia! Also, Russia has had recent difficulties with its export system! These factors coupled with a probable upside technical break-out could finally signal a long-awaited bottom in July Wht!
JULY CORN
July Corn was “down & dirty” at the end of last wk breaking out of its consolidation pattern on the downside, but it quickly reversed with solid gains Friday & today as the contract quickly marched up to the top end of its March trading range! Marketing year high export inspections of 1.623mmt also helped – as well as July Wht’s 20 cent upside explosion to 7 wk highs! The corn contract has dropped $2.00 since last summer -in the process factoring in a lot of bearishness – including adequate stocks & slack exports! Since the 1st, exports have run about 35% over 2023! At current levels, July Corn can allow no margin for error – should there be any glitches in the US Crop!
JULY BEANS
July Beans rode the short-covering wave that engulfed grains today as harvest is nearly complete in Brazil & dryness persists in Argentina! Flash sales have begun appearing regularly with 3 last week & the fund short position is quite large – as well, the mkt is $2.50 off last Summer’s highs! Spiller-over from wheat was prominent as global dryness in wht areas & geopolitical issues sent wht more than 20 cent higher! Bean stocks are not abundant & there is no weather premium in the mkt as planting is just beginning!
JUNE CAT
Cattle-on-Feed reports have been widely unpredictable of late & the April version issued last Friday at 2pm was no exception! Placements came in at 88% (est-93) after last months 110% which started cattle’s $16 slide! The expected reaction was a gap-higher, sharply higher close as the mkt rallied to the midpoint of the recent break! Two factors helped encourage the rally – one was the realization that the Bird Flu impact was mitigated & two is the grilling season we’re currently in – cattle’s best demand period of the year!
JUNE HOGS
June Hogs basically jumped on board the short-covering rally in grains & cattle posting modest gains but closing within $3.00 of the recent of its recent highs! They are also the beneficiary of an excellent demand as folks roll out their grills! Also, recent slaughter & avg weights have been down & exports up as China’s recent herd liquidation has leveled out!
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Grains Report: Wheat, Rice, Corn and Oats, Soybeans, Canola and Palm Oil
By: Jack Scoville | April 23, 2024
• WHEAT
General Comments: Wheat was lower last week and trends remain mixed in all three markets. The weekly export sales report showed poor sales once again. The problems with Russian Wheat exporters continue but are apparently getting resolved in the governments favor. The reports indicate that the government is seeking more control of the exports and has made life very difficult on the private exporters in an effort to extract more sales and powers to the government. Russia is the world’s largest exporter and sets the world price and prices remain low. Big world supplies and low world prices are still around. Export sales remain weak on competition from Russia, Ukraine, and the EU as those countries look to export a lot of Wheat in the coming period. Black Sea offers are still plentiful, but Russia has been bombing Ukraine again and shipments might be hurt from that origin.
Overnight News: The southern Great Plains should get mostly dry conditions. Temperatures should be above normal. Northern areas should see mostly dry conditions. Temperatures will average above normal. The Canadian Prairies should see mostly dry conditions. Temperatures should average above normal.
Chart Analysis: Trends in Chicago are mixed. Support is at 527, 517, and 510 May, with resistance at 557, 568, and 575 May. Trends in Kansas City are mixed. Support is at 571, 561, and 556 May, with resistance at 597, 602, and 605 May. Trends in Minneapolis are mixed. Support is at 626, 610, and 604 May, and resistance is at 651, 658, and 660 May.
• RICE
General Comments: Rice closed higher again last week and has rallied back to the contract highs. Trends are up in this market on the daily charts. The market noted good planting and emergence progress in the weekly USDA reports.
Overnight News:
Chart Analysis: Trends are up with no objectives. Support is at 1818, 1792, and 1778 May and resistance is at 1907, 1916, and 1935 May.
• CORN AND OATS
General Comments: Corn closed lower and Oats closed higher last week as traders think that good Spring weather here will greatly increase planted Corn area. Increased demand was noted in all domestic categories, but export demand was left unchanged. South American production estimates were little changed. It is very expensive to plant Corn and Corn is considered unprofitable to plant right now, so planted are might not increase that much if at all. USDA issued its crop progress report for Corn and Corn planting is proceeding slowly. Demand for Corn has been strong at lower prices. Big supplies and reports of better demand are still around, but futures have been very oversold. Funds remain very large shorts in the market.
Overnight News:
Chart Analysis: Trends in Corn are mixed. Support is at 426, 422, and 408 May, and resistance is at 437, 448, and 459 May. Trends in Oats are mixed. Support is at 339, 334, and 328 May, and resistance is at 369, 362, and 369 May.
• SOYBEANS
General Comments: Soybeans and the products closed lower last week. Reports of great export demand in Brazil provide some support. Reports indicate that China has been a very active buyer of Brazil Soybeans this season. Ideas that South American production is taking demand from the US have pressured futures lower. Domestic demand has been strong in the US. Funds remain large shorts in the market. The US reports strong domestic demand.
Overnight News:
Chart Analysis: Trends in Soybeans are mixed. Support is at 1128, 1114, and 1100 May, and resistance is at 1156, 1181, and 1193 May. Trends in Soybean Meal are mixed. Support is at 330.00, 325.00, and 323.00 May, and resistance is at 348.00, 352.00, and 357.00 May. Trends in Soybean Oil are down with objectives of 4430 May. Support is at 4360, 4300, and 4240 May, with resistance at 4620, 4730, and 4830 May.
• CANOLA AND PALM OIL
General Comments: Palm Oil was lower on price action in Chicago. The export pace is expected to continue to really improve but this is part of the price already, in part due to stronger world petroleum prices that have affected world vegetable oils prices as well. Domestic biofuels demand is likely to improve. Ideas of weaker production ideas against good demand still support the market overall. Trends are turning up on the daily charts. Canola was lower in response to the price action in Chicago.
Overnight News:
Chart Analysis: Trends in Canola are mixed to down with objectives of 596.00 May. Support is at 602.00, 594.00, and 588.00 May, with resistance at 621.00, 637.00, and 645.00 May. Trends in Palm Oil are mixed. Support is at 4970, 3920, and 3860 July, with resistance at 4020, 4080, and 4140 July.
Midwest Weather Forecast Scattered showers. Temperatures should average near to above normal.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Softs Report: Cotton, OJ, Coffee, Sugar, Cocoa
By: Jack Scoville | April 23, 2024
• COTTON
General Comments: Cotton was higher yesterday in recovery trading. Demand remains a problem. The export sales report showed poor sales once again. USDA made no changes to the domestic supply or demand sides of the balance sheets, but did cut world ending stocks slightly. Trends are still down on the daily and weekly charts. Demand has been weaker so far this year. The US economic data has been positive, but the Chinese economic data has not been real positive and demand concerns are still around. However, Chinese consumer demand has held together well, leading some to think that demand for Cotton in world markets will increase over time.
Overnight News: The Delta will get mostly dry conditions and near normal temperatures. The Southeast will see showers and rains and below normal temperatures. Texas will have mostly dry conditions and near normal temperatures.
Chart Trends: Trends in Cotton are mixed. Support is at 77.40, 76.80, and 76.20 May, with resistance of 82.00, 85.30 and 86.20 May.
This Week Last Qeek Last Year Average
Cotton Planted 11 8 11 11
• FCOJ
General Comments: FCOJ closed sharply higher to limit up yesterday and futures are back in the middle of the trading range. Reports of tight supplies are around. Florida said that Oranges production will be low, but above a year ago. Futures still appear to have topped out even with no real downtrend showing yet, so a range trade has been seen. Prices had been moving lower on the increased production potential for Florida and the US and in Brazil but is now holding as current supplies remain very tight amid only incremental relief for supplies is forecast for the coming new crop season. There are no weather concerns to speak of for Florida or for Brazil right now. The weather has improved in Brazil with some moderation in temperatures and increased rainfall amid reports of short supplies in Florida and Brazil are around but will start to disappear as the weather improves and the new crop gets harvested.
Overnight News: Florida should get scattered showers or dry conditions. Temperatures will average near normal. Brazil should get scattered showers and above normal temperatures.
Chart Trends: Trends in FCOJ are mixed. Support is at 354.00, 350.00, and 347.00 May, with resistance at 380.00, 389.00, and 391.00 May.
• COFFEE
General Comments: New York closed lower and London closed higher yesterday and both are now developing a trading range. The lack of Robusta Coffee in the market is still the main feature. Robusta offers from Vietnam remain difficult to find and the lack of offer of Robusta is a bullish force behind the London market action. There were some indications that Vietnam producers were now offering a little Coffee, but not much and not nearly enough to satisfy demand. Vietnamese producers are reported to have about a quarter of the crop left to sell or less and reports indicate that Brazil producers are reluctant sellers for now after selling a lot earlier in the year. The next Robusta harvest in Brazil is starting now and offers increased yesterday on weakness in the Real.
Overnight News: The ICO daily average price is now 228.48 ct/lb. Brazil will get mostly scattered showers with near normal temperatures. Central America will get mostly dry conditions. Vietnam will see scattered showers. ICE NY said that 384 notices were posted for delivery today and that total deliveries for the month are now 742 contracts.
Chart Trends: Trends in New York are mixed. Support is at 239.00, 215.00, and 210.00 July, and resistance is at 249.00, 253.00 and 259.00 July. Trends in London are mixed. Support is at 4070, 3980, and 3850 July, with resistance at 4290, 4350, and 4400 July.
• SUGAR
General Comments: New York and London closed higher yesterday in recovery trading and trends remain down on the charts as the market seems to have supplies available for sale. There are still ideas that the Brazil harvest can be strong for the next few weeks if not longer. Indian production estimates are creeping higher but are still reduced from recent years. There are worries about the Thai and Indian production, but data shows better than expected production from both countries. Offers from Brazil are still active but other origins. are still not offering in large amounts except for Ukraine. Ukraine offers have suffered lately with the war.
Overnight News: Brazil will get rains in the south and scattered showers in the north. Temperatures should average above normal. India will get mostly dry conditions and below normal temperatures.
Chart Trends: Trends in New York are mixed. Support is at 1960, 1920, and 1890 July and resistance is at 2050, 2100, and 2150 July. Trends in London are mixed. Support is at 566.00, 580.00, and 554.00 August, with resistance at 580.00, 590.00, and 600.00 August.
• COCOA
General Comments: New York and London were lower and trends are mixed. Production concerns in West Africa as well as demand from nontraditional sources along with traditional buyers keep supporting futures. Production in West Africa could be reduced this year due to the extreme weather which included Harmattan conditions. The availability of Cocoa from West Africa remains very restricted and projections for another production deficit against demand for the coming year are increasing. Ideas of tig8ht supplies remain based on more reports of reduced arrivals in Ivory Coast and Ghana continue. Mid crop harvest is now underway and here are hopes for additional supplies for the market from the second harvest. Demand continues to be strong, especially from traditional buyers of Cocoa.
Overnight News: Isolated showers are forecast for West Africa. Temperatures will be near normal. Malaysia and Indonesia should see scattered showers. Temperatures should average near normal. Brazil will get isolated showers and above normal temperatures.
Chart Trends: Trends in New York are mixed. Support is at 10600, 9990, and 9880 May, with resistance at 12200, 12380, and 12500 May. Trends in London are mixed. Support is at 9500, 9060, and 8500 May, with resistance at 10280, 10400, and 10520 May.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Commodities Daily Market Movers (% Price Change)
By: Marty Armstrong | April 23, 2024
• Top Movers
Cheese 4.76 %
Wheat #2 3.68 %
Wheat CBT Futures 3.67 %
US - Dow / Gold Ratio 3.56 %
Gold / Silver Ratio 2.92 %
• Bottom Movers
NY Silver COMEX Futures 5.54 %
Cocoa (NYCSCE) Futures 3.46 %
Palm Kernel Oil 3.46 %
LME Tin (99.85%) 3.42 %
NY Gold Futures 2.79 %
*Close from the last completed Daily
DiscoverGold
Who’s The Leader. The Energy Report
By: Phil Flynn | April 23, 2024
Who’s the leader of the club that was made for me. JOE-BID-eeeen. Joe Biden, Joe Biden forever hold your banner high. High, High. For those of you young folks that missed being a part of the Micky Mouse Club, at least you have a chance to become a member of Joe Biden’s “American Climate Corp”. Joe Biden, in an effort to win back the hearts and minds of young, disgruntled Biden voters or perhaps in an attempt to get them to stop protesting at US college campuses across the land, is offering 20,000 jobs to young environmentally minded young folks so the can save the planet from what he sees as the biggest threat to mankind and to “ensure that poverty, race and ethnic status do not lead to worse exposure to environmental harm”. To try to inspire young people and their hearts and minds and votes that he has lost, Biden is trying to summon his inner Franklin D. Roosevelt by trying to copy a 1936 summer camp for underprivileged youth that Roosevelt called the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) to help create jobs during the Great Depression. Now Biden hopes that he can win back some votes by getting them to join this fine club.
While this youthful group cannot wear Mickey Mouse ears, perhaps they could wear caribou antlers because at the same time Biden has decided to block 40% of all oil and gas development in the Alaska National Petroleum reserve in an attempt to protect the so-called native habitat of the caribou and polar bears. Now normally the population of the caribou thrive near warmer oil pipelines but that’s a story for another day.
The Biden team also wants to block a road in Alaska that can bring out the precious metals that we would seemingly be needing if we’re going to electrify our economy. But perhaps he’s a little bit worried about putting some of those slave labor kids out of work in the cobalt mines. Maybe he could send those kids some of some of those cute caribou antler hats to make up for it.
Biden’s energy policies are raising real concerns about the future of energy security in the United States. People in the oil and gas industry and the mining industry are just scratching their heads wondering why the president continues to encourage the production of oil and gas and rare earth minerals in other countries while continuing to try to stymie the US. It’s very disturbing to many in these industries that the Biden administration continues to make short term political decisions regarding energy without any concept of the longer term damage that it’s doing to the US energy space. There are warnings from the American Petroleum Institute and others that are saying that Biden’s policies are creating the next major energy crisis but if you can’t beat them, I guess just join the club.
In the meantime, the market doesn’t seem to be too phased by the sanctions that are being placed in Iran. There’s a growing sense that new sanctions are not needed but also what we must do is enforce the sanctions that are already on the books. Javiar Blass at Bloomberg agrees writing that, “if you believe the Chinese government, the country doesn’t import any oil from Iran. Zero. Not a barrel. Instead, it imports lots of Malaysian crude. So much that, according to official Chinese customs data, it somehow buys more than twice as much Malaysian oil as Malaysia actually produces. Impossible? Well, of course. The reality is that China simply rebrands every barrel of Iranian crude it imports as Malaysian — the easiest and cheapest way to defy US sanctions, according to oil traders. It isn’t a small matter: “Malaysia” was China’s fourth-biggest foreign oil suppler last year, behind Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iraq. He says that, “The truth is, the US doesn’t need new sanctions on Iranian oil — it needs to enforce the ones it already has. For the last several years, either the White House has turned a blind eye to surging Chinese purchases of Iranian oil, with Biden seeming to be more concerned about rising oil prices than increased Iranian oil output, or the web of Chinese and Iranian obfuscation has outwitted US officials. I’m not sure which would be worse, but the result is the same: Iranian oil production last month surged to a six-year high of 3.3 million barrels a day, up 75% from the low point of 1.9 million barrels during the “maximum pressure” sanctions applied by former US President Donald Trump in late 2020.
I would take it a step further. I would argue that the lifting or the failure to enforce sanctions on Iran has made the world a more dangerous place. There’s absolutely no doubt that a lot of the turmoil that we’re seeing in the world today is because Iran has been able to fund terror groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels. Don’t believe the talking point that the reason why Iran is lashing out is because of Donald Trump and that he stepped away from the Iran nuclear accord. The reality is that Iran was never in the business of not wanting to get a nuclear weapon and that Iran nuclear accord would have stopped them.
WTI prices hit over $83.00 a barrel today before pulling back in a normal 3:00 AM central time sell off. The market did get a bit of a pullback on signs that manufacturing growth overseas is slowing while inflation continues to be strong. We get the S&P flash US services purchasing managers index today and we also get the flash US manufacturing purchasing managers index. The market is going to look at the rate of growth but also the inflation component and that could be a market mover for oil today. We also will get the American Petroleum Institute supply report, and the expectations are that we will see a pretty good draw across the board.
We’re seeing diesel prices gain on Rbob gasoline prices suggesting that refiners are starting to get caught up with gasoline inventories. If that gets confirmed from today’s report and tomorrow’s Energy Information Administration supply report, it could mean that we could be getting close to a peak on gasoline prices.
Natural gas prices are trying to hold steady. The big picture is there are still concerns about the Biden administration’s pause on liquefied natural gas exports approvals. Insiders continue to believe that this is just a political sideshow to try to win favor from Biden voters. Still, if the United States lives up to its potential as the largest natural gas exporter, then world will be a cleaner place. The best chance for developing nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions is to replace coal plants and oil plants with liquefied natural gas. It’s realistic and doable and affordable and ultimately good for the planet.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Lumber's long losing streak has mercifully come to an end, back in the green
By: Barchart | April 22, 2024
• Lumber's long losing streak has mercifully come to an end, back in the green.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Natural Gas Bullish Weekly Setup on Deck
By: Bruce Powers | April 22, 2024
• Natural gas continues to trade within last Tuesday's range, hinting at a potential breakout of last week’s hammer candlestick pattern on a rally above 1.81.
Natural gas rises on Monday but continues to trade within the price range from last Tuesday with momentum and volatility muted. Tuesday’s high was 1.80 and it was briefly exceeded to the upside on Friday, with a high of 1.81. It looks like natural gas is eventually heading towards the top line of the symmetrical triangle consolidation pattern to test resistance.
If it were hit today the line would represent approximately 1.92. However, given the lack of enthusiasm in the advance so far, further consolidation may come first. The long-term downtrend line is an area to watch for support during short-term pullbacks.
Weekly Bullish Hammer Candle Setup
A key price level for natural gas is last week’s high of 1.81. If exceeded, the upper range of the triangle becomes the next target zone. Also, last week ended with a bullish hammer candlestick pattern. Therefore, a bullish breakout above 1.81 will trigger that candlestick pattern. Interestingly, the prior week ended with a bearish shooting star candlestick pattern, and it was triggered to the downside last Monday.
This provides a potential setup on the long side that could lead to a pickup in momentum. What we have is the potential for a bullish reversal in the weekly time frame, following a bearish reversal that was triggered the previous week. This type of “whipsaw” is what can sometimes begin sharp moves.
Next Opportunity for Breakout is with the Current Advance
Once a breakout of the triangle triggers, the price of natural gas should see a clear increase in momentum. The triangle pattern is well defined with five touches of the boundary lines so far. Given the clear establishment of the pattern a breakout, either up or down, can follow.
However, given that natural gas has been rising following the most recent swing low of 1.65, the next potential breakout would likely be to the upside. Either the current advance breaks through the top line and then rises above the most recent swing high of 1.94, or resistance is seen near the top line that leads to a turn lower. If the turn lower is brief, another attempt at an upside breakout could follow.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Sanction Hokum. The Energy Report
By: Phil Flynn | April 22, 2024
Oil prices are pulling back as well as silver and gold on the reduction of risk of war and more sanction hokum. Both Israel and Iran seemed to suggest that the tit for tat responses to their escalating tensions had ended but at the same time because of Iran’s attack on Israel, the US has put on mores sanctions. Iran may be shaking in its boots because of the way the Biden administration enforces sanctions instead of their oil exports hitting a 6-year high, they can now go for a 7-year high.
Reuters reported that, “The package, which includes billions of dollars of aid for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific, contains several measures on Iran sanctions. Two “could explicitly impact Iranian petroleum exports if implemented and enforced”, according to ClearView Energy Partners, a non-partisan research group. The first, the Stop Harboring Iranian Petroleum Act, or SHIP, would impose sanctions on ports, vessels and refineries that “knowingly engage” in shipping, transfers, transactions and processing of Iranian crude oil and products, ClearView said. Ships that violate the ban would be barred from U.S. ports for two years. However, the bill includes 180-day waivers that Biden could invoke that would avert oil price spikes. Election day USA is 197 days away. That is just a coincidence, I am sure. It was expected to pass the Senate and will be signed by Biden. Yet the Whitehouse is going to have a say on how, when and if the sanctions are going to be enforced. With a looming election and consumers already complaining about inflation and gas prices, it’s unlike the Biden team will enforce sanctions and Iran once again gets away with murder.
Sanctions, of course, may be the best example this week of wishful thinking since the International Monetary Fund last week thought that OPEC and Russia might start lifting gradually their production cuts in July. IMF assumes a full reversal of oil output cuts at the start of 2025 which I guess could be possible and more than likely we will need oil. Yet last week three anonymous OPEC+ sources who spoke to Reuters indicated that OPEC+ was considering an extension of its voluntary production cuts into the second quarter to lend further support to the market. What’s more, the sources suggested that the group could keep the voluntary cuts in place through the end of this year.
These new sanctions and the OPEC production cut extension comes as AAA comes out this morning about gas prices. They pointed out that the average price of gas increased by 27 cents in the first two weeks of April 2024, and AAA anticipates the cost will continue to rise. Yet they did point out that, “Lackluster domestic demand for gasoline paired with decreasing oil prices led to the national average for a gallon of gas climbing just four cents to $3.67 since last week.” Currently their latest data shows that gasoline prices are $3.675 a gallon for regular unlimited. That is slightly higher than yesterday, about four cents a gallon higher than a week ago about $0.14 higher than a month ago. Yet amazingly we’re just slightly higher than we were a year ago.
The wildfire in Canada may impact oil production as well as natural gas. Bloomberg reported that A 74-acre (30—hectare) wildfire in the Canadian oil sands prompted an evacuation alert for a community near Fort McMurray, the biggest city in the region. Residents of Saprae Creek, located about 25 kilometers (16 miles) by car southeast of the oil sands capital, were told to prepare for possible evacuation if wildfire spreads toward the community, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo said in an alert. The fire is one of two out-of-control blazes in Alberta, home to the Canadian oil sands, the world’s third-largest crude oil reserves. The warning was issued after massive forest fires burned down whole swathes of Fort McMurray, forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate for more than a month. Those fires also prompted the suspension of more than 1 million barrels a day of oil production.
EBW Analytics reports that the May natural gas contract initially tested as low as $1.649 last week before a brief fire scare in Alberta threatening supply reinforced support. Extended Henry Hub weakness averaging just $1.57/MMBtu April-to-date may be a bearish indicator for the June contract, however. Still, dry gas production scrapes continued to grind lower to offer support while weather also edged higher. If LNG demand can rebound from last week’s lows, initial strength is probable early this week before trader positioning into final settlement biases risks lower.
We definitely have seen the rebound in the stock market and the big sell-off in silver and gold as the risk of World War 3 breaking out over the weekend seems to be reduced pretty substantially. Still the supply and demand situation remains very tight and this false perception that supplies are really ample could be changed dramatically over the next couple of weeks. The 3rd test seems to be more interested in the Brent crude than the WTI. Most of the tightness on that side of the pond, at the same time here in the US, complacency on gasoline demand may be our undoing. Weekly demand numbers are very volatile. Our expectation is that if the weather turns a bit better across the country we could see a real uptick in demand.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Rice is running... Beans, Oats, Wheat and Corn bottomed???
BREAKING: Lumber The tear drop pattern is only getting worse for Lumber as it has now closed red for 14 consecutive days
By: Barchart | April 19, 2024
• BREAKING: Lumber
The tear drop pattern is only getting worse for Lumber as it has now closed red for 14 consecutive days.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Natural Gas Stuck Inside Consolidation Range
By: Bruce Powers | April 19, 2024
• Historical context suggests that 1.52 support is significant, suggesting that a drop below it could lead to further selling, and if it is retained there is the potential for an eventual upside breakout.
Natural gas shows signs of strength but cannot sustain it. A breakout above the three-day high of 1.80 triggered today before resistance was seen around 1.81. That led to a selloff that took natural gas down to the lower half of the day’s range.
Although the breakout to a four-day high is a sign of strength, the potential close in the lower half of the range is not. Moreover, Thursday also closed in the lower half of the range. Nevertheless, this is the type of uncertainty that can be expected when trading occurs inside a clear consolidation pattern.
Directionless Choppy Outlook Until Breakout
A bear pennant trend continuation consolidation pattern has been forming and the swing low at 1.65 that was reached on Tuesday further confirmed the pattern. That swing low has been followed by a low momentum advance. The logical target is an eventual test of resistance at the top boundary line of the pattern. If resistance is then seen, a possible drop to test the lower line may occur. In other words, until there is a clear breakout of the pennant momentum and volatility will be diminished.
Upside Breakout Would Be Bullish
Although this pennant is considered bearish since it is within a downtrend, a bullish reversal can also occur. On the downside, a decline below this week’s low of 1.65 indicates that a breakdown has started. The first target would then be the trend low at 1.52. However, if the breakdown follows through as it normally might, a decline to new trend lows is likely. Given that, it is important to consider historical context.
Sitting On Strong Support
In June 2020 natural gas reversed from a swing low of 1.44. That low was the lowest traded price in natural gas of the past 28 years. The prior low was 1.52, which is where it found support most recently. Further, the decline below support of 1.52 to the new low of 1.44 occurred in only one day.
A daily close above the 1.52 level occurred the next day and it was followed by a sustained rally. What this seems to indicate is that another drop below 1.52 could be a big deal and lead to further selling and risks seeing natural gas fall below 1.44. Also, there is a good chance that 1.52 is not broken to the downside given its significant, and an upside breakout of the pennant eventually occurs.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Fear Strike Out. The Energy Report
By: Phil Flynn | April 19, 2024
A wild evening of risk on and risk off as the market fear cages had a significant test and geopolitical events are on the cusp of our worst nightmares. Now the market must decide whether the tensions are closer to the beginning or closer to the end.
Oil popped and dropped after it was reported that Israel responded to Iran’s attack on their country with a missile strike or drone strike or a combination of both. The early indications seem to suggest a limited response by Israel, perhaps in an attempt to not escalate the conflict but is already being criticized by some in Israel as a ‘weak” response” and calls for more significant action. Iran overnight also seems to be downplaying the attack.
The Wall Street Journal reported that, “The strike targeted the area around Isfahan in central Iran, one of the people said. Iranian media and social media reported explosions near the city, where Iran has nuclear facilities and a drone factory, and the activation of air-defense systems in provinces across the country after suspicious flying objects were detected. Much remained unclear about the extent or the impact of the Israeli action. State-run news agency IRNA said Friday morning that its reporters hadn’t seen any large-scale damage or explosions anywhere in the country and that no incidents were reported at Iran’s nuclear facilities. Flight restrictions imposed overnight by Iran were lifted in the morning.” This came after Iran was already seeking to lower tensions.
Bloomberg News reported that Iran is prepared to de-escalate tensions with Israel provided that it agrees to stop further military moves against Tehran’s interests, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said at the United Nations. “Iran’s legitimate defense and countermeasures have been concluded,” Amirabdollahian told the UN Security Council Thursday. Israel “must be compelled to stop any further military adventurism against our interests.” If not, he said, Iran will “give a decisive and proper response” that will make Israel “regret its actions.” So after some pretty dramatic moves and the risk on markets such as bonds, oil and gold, we seem to be pricing in that the worst may be over the rumors that Israel was going to hit Iran hard after the Passover holiday and talk of two other attacks on Iran being canceled seems to suggest that at least for the near term, the worst may be over.
Yet will it be enough to believe that this is over going into the weekend? It’s very possible that they will retaliate again. So, the fears of some of the worst-case scenarios of a major oil disruption seems to be on the back burner at least for now. I guess Iran can go back to celebrating the fact that they just saw their oil exports hit a new six year high yesterday according to the Financial Times giving the country an extra $35 billion dollars that they can spend on more global terror groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels.
The Iranian state media reported that the air strike by Israel’s Air Force was targeting their 8th tactical air base of the Iranian Air Force. The attack was near some of their nuclear facilities. According to the reports coming out of Iran, none of them were damaged and its business as usual. So, I guess that means that their secret nuclear weapons program is still on going. Oops I forgot, it’s supposed to be a secret.
No secret that the Biden administration did turn a blind eye to Iranian sanctions in the hope to reinvent the Iranian nuclear deal but at the same time now they need that oil if they’re going to win the election. The Biden administration now is in another desperate attempt to please the environmental base and is now restricting drilling and mining in Alaska. The Biden administration says they took steps to limit both oil and gas drilling on public lands and conserve 30% of US lands and water to combat climate change. The Interior Department finalized a regulation to block oil and gas development and 40% of Alaska’s National Petroleum preserve they say in an attempt to protect habitats for polar bears and Caribou and other wildlife in the way of life for indigenous communities. Biden also said that he was proud that his administration was taking action to conserve more than 13 million acres in the western Arctic.
Many experts believe that Biden’s action is going to jeopardize our future not only for oil and gas production but also for the production for the type of minerals that we would need if Biden is ever going to have a chance to achieve his dream of electrifying the US transportation fleet. By restricting mining but increasing the demand for metals, Biden is going to make the US more dependent on other countries for our economy to survive. This is not a good long-term strategy for U.S. economic growth nor is it a good strategy for the average American family.
For commodity traders, we’re seeing some great volatility and great opportunities to try to pick up some big moves. This means the volatility in commodities isn’t just in your normal risk assets where we’re seeing explosive moves in cocoa, coffee as well as industrial and precious metals. Be prepared to play both sides of the market but hedges should use sharp breaks to lock in hedges. Because after the dust settles and the geopolitical risk goes away, the underlying fundamentals for food and industrial and precious metals is that supplies are just too darn tight.
Natural gas, after what a bearish report, is attempting to rise from the ashes. There is a possibility and the market is hopeful that production cuts and reductions of drillings of wells would stop the bloodletting.
Yesterday Market Watch reported that the Energy Information Administration on Thursday reported a weekly increase of 50 billion cubic feet in domestic supplies for the week that ended April 12. On average, analysts had forecast a climb of 44 billion cubic feet, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights. Still with some base of seeing natural gas prices at historic lows there will still be more pain for the producers.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Natural Gas Rebound Faces Resistance at Moving Average Zone
By: Bruce Powers | April 18, 2024
• Trading in natural gas expected to be choppy, as volatility declines in the narrowing pennant.
Natural gas bounces to test a moving average resistance zone with the day’s high of 1.78. Today’s advance (Thursday) broke out above the high of Wednesday, which was an inside day. Natural gas is on track to end the day above yesterday’s high of 1.72. However, it remains inside the wide trading range from Monday, and it is also within a developing bearish pennant consolidation pattern.
Signs of strength seen today may take the price of natural gas up to the top boundary line to test resistance. However, it is not clear whether Tuesday’s swing low will be the low of the swing until there is an advance above Monday’s high of 1.80.
Choppy Moves While in Consolidation
Until natural gas breaks out of the pennant consolidation pattern trading will likely be choppy and difficult to predict, as with any consolidation period. Volatility can be expected to decline as the pennant narrows the trading range as the apex of the triangle is approached.
Further, the three moving averages representing different time frames of 8-Day, 20-Day, and 50-Day have converged. This is another indication of low volatility. How natural gas behaves when testing the upper or lower boundary lines will provide clues as you whether a breakout to the upside or downside may occur.
Consolidation Could Continue for Weeks
The pattern is bearish since natural gas remains in a downtrend and there was a sharp decline prior to the formation of the pennant. Nevertheless, it is not determined until a breakout occurs. A breakout either up or down should occur before the apex is reached. This means that trading within the pennant could go on for as long as more seven weeks. Regardless, a breakout could occur at any time as the pennant is already well defined.
8-Week Moving Average Recaptured
It is interesting to note that there was a breakdown from last week’s bearish shooting star candlestick pattern (not shown) before this week’s low of 1.65 was reached, leading to a bounce. Also, the 8-Week MA, which had marked support for the last two weeks was broken to the downside. Today’s advance has recaptured the 8-Week MA, a sign of strength. Confirmation of strength will be provided on a daily close above the current price for the 8-Week MA at 1.75. Natural gas exceeded that level today.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
The Corn & Ethanol Report
By: Daniel Flynn | April 18, 2024
We kickoff the day with Export Sales, Initial Jobless Claims, Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index, Continuing Jobless Claims, Jobless Claims 4-Week Average, Philly Fed Business Conditions, Philly CAPEX Index, Philly Fed Employment, Philly Fed New Orders, and Philly Fed Prices Paid at 7:30 A.M., Fed Bowman Speech at 8:05 A.M., Fed Williams Speech at 8:15 A.M., Existing Home Sales, Existing Home Sales MoM, and CB Leading Index at 9:00 A.M., EIA Natural Gas Storage at 9:30 A.M., Fed Bostic Speech at 10:00 AM.,4-Week & 8-Week Bill Auction at 10:30 A.M., 5-Year TIPS Auction at 12:00 P.M., and Fed Bostic Speech at 4:45 P.M.
Grain futures are mixed in a reversal of yesterday with corn & soybean futures lower while wheat futures get a dead cat bounce. Low volume totals reflect lack of trading interest as the bulls & Bears debate the upcoming Northern hemisphere growing season.. Expect another choppy trade in today’s action with a modest bounce on Friday as we head into the weekend with many geo-political risks-on-at play. The Phillips 66Rodeo California Refinery (Rodeo Renewed) announced it is operating and producing 27,000 barrels of renewable diesel daily as of April 15th . Rodeo Renewable plans to reach it’s plant’s production capacity of 50,000 barrels per day later this quarter. At the current rate of renewable diesel production, the Rodeo Phillips 66 plant is consuming 8.6 Mil pounds of feedstocks daily with a push to reach 16.1 Mil pounds of feedstock consumption by late June. At capacity, this would add 15% of US biofuel production. Rodeo is the largest US biofuel producer and will significantly boost US renewable diesel production. Phillips 66 has not announced what feedstocks the plant will utilizing, but soybean oil should hold a sizable percentage of the feedstocks based on current price relationships, The US Soybean Crush industry has been waiting for Rodeo to come online for years. And talk of squeezing out more fuel from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR’s) instead of replenishing always at a loss from where and when the government tap’s into the Reserves. This is dangerous to National Security as the administration as both domestic and foreign policy extremely dangerous and just another self-inflicted failure that needs to be held accountable.
The Rosario Grain Exchange raised corn crop size questions on Wednesday with their crop size questions suggesting that corn stunt losses could grow with N Argentine fields reporting harvested yield losses of 40-50%. Also, corn stunt disease has pushed unusually far south into Central Santa Fe and Cordoba. BAGE may further lower their ’24 Argentine corn production estimate later today, but additional harvest data is required to define the disease’s full impact. Play It Again Sam! For the Bears & Bulls it’s the US Marine line of Hurry Up & Wait!
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Commodities Daily Market Movers (% Price Change)
By: Marty Armstrong | April 18, 2024
• Top Movers
LBMA Silver in USD 0.74 %
• Bottom Movers
Tokyo Platinum Futures 2 %
NSW Baseload Electricity Continuous 1 %
Tokyo Rubber Futures 0.89 %
AU - Victoria Base-Load Electricity Futures 0.58 %
Tokyo Corn Futures 0.27 %
*Close from the last completed Daily
DiscoverGold
You Can’t Hurry Cuts. The Energy Report
By: Phil Flynn | April 18, 2024
Jerome Powell hints: You can’t hurry cuts. No, you’ll just have to wait. Inflations not easing, But It’s a game of give and take. You can’t hurry cuts, no, you just got to wait, just trust in the Fed’s time, it’s a game of interest rates. How many heartaches must we stand before inflation’s so tame to let us live again. Rate cuts were the only thing that kept us hanging on. When I feel my paycheck, you know it’s almost gone. No, you can’t hurry cuts….
Well after trying to hold support for days, the market had the rug pulled out from underneath it as the market seemed to lose the Fed and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) put in quick succession. Backing off rate cuts and the Biden administration switching to a potential seller from a buyer for the SPR took away the invisible floor that oil had. We also saw an easing of war premium in part because of an Axios report that said that Israel considered a retaliatory strike against Iran on Monday but decided to wait.
The market also was less than inspired by the weekly Energy Information Administration (EIA) status report that seemed to suggest the gasoline demand in the United States is struggling but at the same time so are the inventories of oil products. Yet the tightness of diesel supply and gasoline, especially in certain parts of the country, seem to be overshadowed as the market tries to reprice oil and gas in an environment where we might not get any rate cuts this year after all and perhaps a measured response to Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel.
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester seemed to echo the sentiment from Fed Chair Jerome Powell by saying monetary policy is in a good place, adding that the central bank shouldn’t be in a hurry to cut interest rates. Yet by backing off the suggestion that rate cuts would be coming, it took away what some might say was the Fed oil put that would keep a floor under oil just a day after the Biden administration took away the Strategic Petroleum Reserve put by saying that instead of buying back for the reserve they might be selling.
Add to that its seems that the market believes that the Biden administration will not impose sanctions on Iranian oil because they fear a shortage. Even so called reimposition of oil sanctions on Venezuela will not impact their exports to the US ahead of the election. Bloomberg News reports they intend to reimpose oil sanctions on Venezuela, ending a six-month reprieve, if Nicolas Maduro’s regime does not take steps in the next two days to honor an agreement to allow a fairer vote in elections scheduled for July.
The US plans to allow a Treasury Department license permitting oil and gas production to expire without renewal on Thursday, according to people familiar with the plan, who asked not to be identified without permission to speak publicly if Venezuela fails to act. Sounds ominous but as oil analyst Anas Alhajji points out, the reimposition of sanctions will not cover Venezuela’s oil exports nor U.S. oil imports from Venezuela. So, while the Biden administration is trying to act tough protecting free and fair elections, they are more worried about the price of oil and diesel hurting their reelection chances.
In fact, John Kemp at Reuters pointed out that Brent crude oil calendar spreads have continued to soften as traders downgrade the probability the conflict between Iran and Israel will escalate to the point where it disrupts oil production and exports. The spread from June to December 2024 has fallen to its lowest for more than five weeks. Most of the softening has come in the nearest-to-deliver June-July and July-August spreads where most of the speculative money is concentrated and where the supply-demand balance would be impacted most immediately by any escalation that threatened oil production and exports from the Persian Gulf. Traders have concluded Iran will not risk any disruption of its exports; the United States will not risk higher oil prices in an election year; and the United States will restrain the next round of responses by Israel. Then again, if it does happen, well, stay tuned.
How about gasoline futures which in recent days has been surging also saw the bottom drop out after the Energy Information Agency {EIA) report. The market became concerned about the strength of the consumer after another week of subpar 8.862 million barrels a day demand. Even though it was stronger than the week before, the market is concerned that this summer driving season might not be getting off to a bang up start.
We did see a big rebound in U.S. oil exports that surged to a whooping 4.726 million barrels a day, that probably included some post Easter Holiday work. Then I would have to say that the report really wasn’t bearish. In fact, I would suggest you could even see green shoots in this report that would suggest more bullishness in the weeks to come. Yet when we lost the Fed put and with the market taking off some more premium, we started the see people’s online positions after they took out support.
According to the EIA, demand in the four-week moving average, which is really what you must keep an eye on, showed that based on total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 19.8 million barrels a day, down by 0.2% from the same period last year. Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline products supplied averaged 8.8 million barrels a day, down by 1.9% from the same period last year. Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.5 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, down by 8.4% from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was up 0.8% compared with the same four-week period last year.
EIA said supplies of U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) increased by 2.7 million barrels from the previous week. At 460.0 million barrels, putting U.S. crude oil inventories are about 1% below the five year average for this time of year. Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 1.2 million barrels from last week and are about 4% below the five-year average for this time of year. Finished gasoline inventories increased, while blending components inventories decreased last week. Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 2.8 million barrels last week and are about 7% below the five-year average for this time of year.
After taking off support both oil and products are vulnerable from a price standpoint. There is still geopolitical risk in the marketplace even though it’s been downplayed in the short term. If the demand side of the equation bounces back just a little bit, we can see by the inventories that supplies will tighten significantly. And while right now we are vulnerable to see oil retest near $80.00 a barrel, we believe it would be prudent to put on some call positions on breaks.
Gas producers are praying that today’s natural gas inventory report will throw them a lifeline so they can survive another week. The U.S. likely saw a below-average build in natural gas inventories last week, lowering slightly the storage surplus as the injection season gets under way, according to a survey by The Wall Street Journal. Natural gas in underground storage is expected to have increased by 45 billion cubic feet to 2,328 Bcf as of April 12, according to the average estimate of nine traders, brokers and analysts. Estimates range from a storage increase of 39 Bcf to one of 51 Bcf.t Journal writes that “the EIA is scheduled to report last week’s storage levels on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. EDT. The projected rise is smaller than the five-year average injection for the week of 61 Bcf and would reduce the surplus from 633 Bcf the week before. The large surplus over the five-year average follows an unusually mild winter that limited inventory drawdowns. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that natural gas in storage will end the injection season at a record 4,120 Bcf, or 10% above the five-year average.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Natural Gas Volatility Decline Setting Stage for Pennant Breakout
By: Bruce Powers | April 17, 2024
• Natural gas is consolidating within a bear pennant pattern, with volatility declining as it trades inside a narrowing price range.
Natural gas further consolidates on Wednesday within a bear pennant pattern. It is on track to end the day as a relatively narrow inside day. Yesterday’s low of 1.65 approached a test of support at the lower trendline of a developing bear pennant consolidation pattern. This week’s decline has clarified that pattern as an attempt to hold support above the 50-Day MA and long-term trendline failed earlier this week.
Declining Volatility Likely to Continue
Volatility has been declining and it will likely continue to fall as natural gas further trades inside the small triangle pattern with a narrowing price range. The decline in volatility is also indicated by the three moving averages that have converged. The 8-Day, 20-Day, and 50-Day have come together.
What follows a period of low volatility is a clear increase in volatility. That will likely happen upon a breakout of the pennant. Natural gas remains in a clear downtrend and there was a relatively sharp decline prior to the pennant consolidation pattern. However, the downside may be limited.
29-Year Low is 1.44
In June 2020 a low of 1.44 was reached and price was quickly rejected to the upside. Natural gas traded below the prior support level of 1.52 for only one day before buyers took back control and the early stages of an advance began. That is the lowest price that natural gas has traded at in approximately 29 years. This means that 1.52 is a key low price to watch if a breakdown from the pennant occurs. Given the quick rebound off the 1.44 price level it seems unlikely that that price area will be tested again as support. Nevertheless, it is always a possibility.
Breakdown Signal
Until it is clear that Tuesday’s low of 1.65 is going to be a swing low, a breakdown is triggered on a drop below the earlier swing low at 1.59. It is confirmed on a daily close below that price level. Otherwise, support is likely to continue to be seen near the lower boundary line with trading contained within the pattern. Such a low volatility environment is likely to keep some traders on the sidelines until price breaks out.
Upside Trigger
Although the bear pennant is considered a trend continuation pattern, it is not valid until a breakout is triggered. Therefore, an eventual upside breakout remains a possibility. An upside breakout is triggered on a move above the recent swing high of 1.94. The next time that a bullish breakout could occur would be on the next rally towards the top of the pattern if it does occur.
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Agriculture Master Report
By: Bill Moore | April 17, 2024
JULY CORN
For the past 6 weeks, July Corn has been locked in a tight 20 cent range (440-460), as headwinds such as planting pressure, rains in the dry areas , the Iranian airstrike & the April WASDE Report push it down to the 440 level & tailwinds such as todays export at inspections 1.333 mmt & todays flash sale of 165,000 mt to Mexico lift it to the 460 level! Traders were generally disappointed by the wide disparity in the South American estimates tssued last Friday between the USDA (124) & CONAB (112) & feel the May WADSE will correct it! Common sense would say Brazil has a better handle on their crop size than the USDA!
JULY BEANS
1155 to 1230 has confined July Beans since Mar 1 as it also labors in a tight range buffeted by both positives & negatives! This past week, 3 export flash sales were reported to unknown destinations – 124,000, 254,000 & 124,000! But offsetting that was the USDA report last Thur at 11am CST – keeping the Brazil Beans at 155mmt vs the Conab estimate of 146mmt! This is a very wide discrepancy for this late in the growing season & we expect it to be rectified in the MAY WADSE REPORT! Meanwhile, the mkt is closely monitoring the early planting progress – with corn at 6% & beans at 2-3% complete – due out today at 3pm! With the mkt $2.50 under last Summer & a still sizeable short fund open interest, we feel the mkt leans to an upside bias – when it finally emerges from its sideways, consolidation pattern!
JULY WHT
July Wheat was able to back-and-fill its way higher for about a 40 cent rally – before the mkt’s negative reaction to last Thur’s WASDE forced a correction! However, we feel Russian’s recent export woes, the escalating Middle-East conflict, recent Russian military strikes & general dry conditions of their emerging wht crop all favor less production & more exports – and therefore higher prices!
JUNE CAT
Since late March, June Cattle has plummeted $16 (186-170) – mostly off the impetus of a bearish March Cattle-on-Report which reported placements at 10% over 2023 (est-6%)! The downswing was then exacerbated by the Bird Flu Epidemic which cast serious doubt on beef demand! However, this incident was later mitigated – leaving the mkt sharply over-sold! So, a fierce short-covering rally (170-176) ensued – sparked by our entry into the Spring Grilling season – the best demand period of the year! We look for the mkt to continue to recoup part of the $16 loss – triggered by the fateful March 22nd Cattle-on-Feed Report!
JUNE HOGS
On April 10th, a major Key Reversal occurred – with new contract highs scored early in the trading session – followed by a precipitous decline of nearly $5.00 & a close well under the previous 2-wk lows! The mkt continued down another $4-5.00 to last week’s low of about $101 – as heavier slaughter & pork production fueled the down! But after nearly an $8.00 drop, the mkt became quite oversold & being amidst the best demand period of the year, has rallied back $3.00! We look for all the outdoor grilling to push the mkt back up toward it early April highs! Helping that rally is the fact that China’s 1st Qtr pork production declined to 15.8 million tons – the first qtly fall in 4 years! This seems to indicate that they are finally getting their excess production under control – a positive for pork exports!
Read Full Story »»»
DiscoverGold
Followers
|
89
|
Posters
|
|
Posts (Today)
|
0
|
Posts (Total)
|
8796
|
Created
|
05/01/07
|
Type
|
Free
|
Moderators DiscoverGold Pro-Life |
- The Commodity Bull is Running... Inflation is Running... Harder Living (i.e. FOOD, CLOTHING, SHELTER) is Dead Ahead... -
- Commodity Futures Trading -
http://finviz.com/futures_performance.ashx
Beneficial Educational Resources on Futures TradingThe futures market is volatile, and it cuts both ways. Leverage that makes it profitable can also ruin reckless, undisciplined traders overnight. Most brokers have paper trading available on their platforms, so those who are new to futures should take advantage and learn with these tools before going live with real money. Mitigate risk with stop loss orders at all times, and cut losses quickly instead of adding contracts and attempting to flip your way out of a losing position. Also, use mini instruments when available, with lower margin requirements, until you have sufficient capital to buy and sell more expensive contracts. Even though the potential is there, don't try to make too many profits at once. If things aren't going well, often times quitting for the day and collecting one's thoughts is the best decision. New opportunities come along daily. Markets are open nearly 24 hours, so set a schedule and stick to it. Avoid trading while tired or distracted, and please don't listen to the advice of others. Do research on fundamentals affecting markets as well as paying attention to TA. Watch key indices, and listen to accurate, real-time news during the session to stay aware of shifting trends. Trade smart, trade safely, and have fun.
Videos on Futureshttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9A5C5A93D243CA44 Continuous Improvement in Progress |
Commodity Futures Trading
https://www.tdameritrade.com/investment-products/futures-trading.page
Volume | |
Day Range: | |
Bid Price | |
Ask Price | |
Last Trade Time: |