Close: London Session | Forex, Metals, Oil, Agriculture December 10, 2020

672z311_1593188016_CMC-Markets-brokers-traders

Agriculture

Source: CQG CBOT soft red winter wheat futures hit a peak of $6.3825 per bushel during the week of October 19, the highest level since December 2014. Over eight years ago, in 2012, corn and soybean prices rose to all-time highs at $8.4375 and $17.9476 per bushel, respectively. The record high came in 2013, the year after corn and beans reached all-time peaks and wheat reached its second-highest annual price in history. Source: CQG CBOT soybean futures peaked at $12 per bushel during the week of November 23, the highest price since June 2016.
Corn reached its highest price in 2020, and soybeans and wheat rose to multi-year highs. Soft red winter wheat futures rose to its all-time peak of $13.3450 per bushel in 2008. This has led to record soybean imports into the world’s most populous country as it tries to expand its decimated hog herd. Each of the underlying commodities they track – corn, wheat, soybeans and sugar cane – have an interesting story to tell in 2020.
The result of all of this has been a banner year for soybean prices and The Teucrium Soybean ETF (SOYB). The company breeds, grows, processes, and selling alfalfa, sorghum, sunflower, wheat germplasm, wheat, and pasture seeds.

Currencies

Billionaires and millionaires are now becoming common as inflation increases the apparent value of the dollar, even as the value of the dollar has plummeted since 1971. In 1981, Mexico had to devalue the peso from 16 to the dollar to thousands to the dollar to allow it to pay the debt in the old currency. In 1971, when the US dollar was taken off the gold standard, it was the beginning of the long-term devaluation of the dollar. The chip maker’s dollar debt has been trading at deep discounts to face value, suggesting investors already doubted they would be repaid in full.
The US dollar as the world’s reserve currency is faltering and facing competition from the euro, the yuan and other currencies, as well as from gold. Pressure ratcheted higher during the North American trading session amid a decline in the EURGBP cross pair, as well as a broad-based dollar strength vis-à-vis against all major currencies. Gene comments on stock, bond, dollar, oil & gold markets, with a particular emphasis on monetary policy, technology issues and S&P intraday action.
The impressive rally since March, when Covid-induced volatility dragged prices near early 2016 lows, appears driven by an ailing US Dollar, strong demand, and an improved long-term economic environment. A falling US dollar, central bank liquidity, and government stimulus are highly inflationary. A key risk to the recent leadership for emerging markets debt is the US dollar.

Metals

Reports state that the correction in gold prices has discouraged some investors from investing in gold. BEFORE THE BELL Futures tracking Canada’s main stock index fell, weighed by lower spot gold price as vaccine optimism dented the metal’s safe-haven appeal. less Gold is not trading based on the vaccine news. In an overleveraged and indebted world, gold is the keystone, supporting all other assets that bear greater risk and loss potential. He is also the author of the 2015 book, The Coming Renewal of Gold’s Secular Bull Market which is available for free.
On November 6, gold tried to get through $1967, but found ferocious sellers due to the news coming out about how effective the vaccines may be. At this point we can see that GOLD is showing Bearish SHS formation at the top so we might see another rejection. Gold is not trading based on the vaccine news. Gold remains on the defensive after falling by more than $30 an ounce yesterday, unable to rise above $1845, and pinned near the lows (around $1830).
A monetary researcher and visionary, Exter understood how gold’s scarcity and trustworthiness made it foundational in an unstable financial world.

Oil

less Image Source: Pixabay Oil prices stood tall even after a massive 15.2-million-barrel crude oil increase in the US oil supply. The pandemic caused a demand destruction for oil, which hit oil services firms hard. Oil services firms have battened down the hatches amid volatile oil prices. However, at some point demand for oil will need to kick in to justify more E&P in the oil patch. The unexpected supply build and record rise in net imports stunned the oil market, which has been weighed down by low demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Refinitiv Oil Research is tracking 345,000 tons of discharges this week, up more than 60% from the 135,000 tons tracked discharging last week. Thanksgiving week, oil demand was disappointing on the product side but an uptick in refinery runs suggests that refiners are starting to ramp up a bit for winter. Short sellers are frustrated with market action especially after getting that monster crude oil build. The company is focused on low decline light and medium oil and gas production in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Curiously, today’s spike comes in the aftermath to the slide in oil yesterday after the DOE disclosed a massive build in U.S. crude inventories.

United States

By comparison, they peg the total food and beverage market in the US at $1.5 trillion and the restaurant and consumer foodservice market at $600.5 billion of that space. Many stock market indices made new all-time highs during the pandemic, with the Nasdaq 100 in the United States leading the way. Asian share markets ended lower today as investors kept an eye on Brexit trade talks as well as ongoing negotiations in the US for a coronavirus relief package.
As farmers in the US and other growing countries begin to make plans for the 2021 crop year, higher prices will encourage more planting, requiring more seeds. Nasdaq-100 futures slid less than 0.1%, pointing to subdued trading in tech stocks a day after Facebook was hit by a series of antitrust lawsuits. less They don’t ring a bell – to signal a market top (or in this case NASDAQ and a slew of S&P components that are of the super-cap variety). Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Airbnb was targeting a range of $56 to $60 for its IPO that would value the company around $42 billion.
PICB is also beating the US investment-grade benchmark via Vanguard Total US Bond Market (NASDAQ:BND), which is ahead by 7.2% in 2020. Wall Street bankers and investors are preparing for a sharp drop in corporate bond sales next year. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) continues to sell off following a blistering rally that’s pushed shares up nearly 60% since the announcement in mid-November of its inclusion in the S&P 500.

China

The Beijing municipal government is working with Danke to resolve the crisis, according to renters and apartment owners contacted by the Journal and people familiar with the matter. Mr. Setser has written extensively on matters like Taiwan’s until-recently hidden foreign exchange position, and Beijing’s possible interventions in currency markets facilitated by China’s state banks. Mr. Wei said his family members went to a resolution booth set up by the Beijing municipal government to try to find a solution.
China is aiming to sanction powerful Americans including lawmakers, NGO personnel and their families, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing Thursday in Beijing. China added that the sanctions would only “strengthen its resolve” to crush Hong Kong’ democratic freedoms – Beijing’s primary goal in all of this. The incoming U.S. administration is likely to have a different attitude to currency manipulation, but that won’t necessarily mean an easier ride for Seoul, Taipei or Beijing.
Everyone is playing the low-profile card now, says one young businessman.People at the One Third night club in Beijing on Oct. 24.Photographer: Yan Cong/Bloomberg Like Balance of Power?
With the pandemic intensifying inequality, President Xi Jinping is stepping up efforts to ensure wealth is more evenly distributed. Candidates include Education Minister Dan Tehan and David Littleproud, whose agriculture portfolio has been arguably hardest hit by Beijing s retaliation.

Europe

Markets quietWith stimulus talks in the U.S. making little progress, and the ECB decision and economic data to come, markets are not doing very much yet. ECB’s easing package did not impress financial markets but the new measures have power and should support easy financing conditions also amidst a recovery in 2021. Sponsored Offers Talks fail all around – no Brexit deal agreed over dinner & US stimulus talks stall. All eyes will also be on the ECB meeting later today, where extended stimulus is expected to be unveiled in the form of asset purchases and cheap credit.
They also give the ECB a chance to adjust the 2023 number gradually higher next year at meetings, where no new monetary policy action is taken. As we await the next round of last-minute talks involving Boris Johnson and European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen, markets are expressing an as-yet-unseen level of anxiety. Ahead of the ECB meeting, new record lows in yields are being seen in Europe, and Italy’s 5-year yield turned negative for the first time yesterday.
The ECB “won’t risk yields rising on either bad news (fragmentation) or good news (vaccine): this is what yield curve control looks like,” he said. Sponsored Offers European markets have had a muted open this morning as ongoing Brexit talks continue to yield any real progress. Economists forecast no change in interest rates, and will tune into the press conference with President Christine Lagarde at 8:30 a.m. to hear the bank’s latest economic projections.

0