Open: New York Session | Forex, Metals, Oil, Agriculture November 16, 2020

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Agriculture

Traders had sold 3.4 million tonnes of corn as of Nov. 13, down from 5.3 million tonnes on the same date last year. The total export volume included 11.2 million tonnes of wheat and 3.5 million tonnes of barley. Futures prices for soybeans, corn and hard red winter wheat—the kind used for baking bread—have risen by about a third since a rally began Aug. 10. The global coronavirus pandemic had cast doubt on demand, from the corn that finds its way into motor fuels to the wheat that winds up as restaurant dinner rolls.
The full breakdown by origin was not immediately available but sugar from Brazil and Guatemala is expected to be included. Soft red winter wheat, found in animal feed and processed foods, is up about 20%.

Currencies

MARKET NEWS Gold steadied near a one-week high as the dollar weakened, with concerns over mounting coronavirus cases offsetting a risk rally driven by optimism over a vaccine. Another reason for optimism comes from the , which opened the door to expanding its bond-buying scheme – another dollar downer. less On Monday, the prices of gold reached its highest level since November 9 on a softer dollar. Lawyers on both sides geared up for a multi-billion dollar battle, and this recent settlement offer is the result.

Metals

Industrial metals rose, with copper prices hitting 29-month highs and aluminium scaling a fresh 20-month peak, on optimism around demand in top metals consumer China. The world’s top steelmaker produced 92.2 million tonnes of crude steel last month, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, compared with 92.56 million tonnes in September. * Chile’s Candelaria copper mine offered an improved contract deal to one of two unions on strike at the deposit in a bid to re-start production.
For example, when Pfizer announced the positive vaccine news last week, the gold price lost nearly $100 in a day while silver fell more than $2.00. The Gold Analyst offers quality technical and fundamental analysis of the price of gold to help educate readers in their investment decisions. Gold prices went down by 3.3% last week after Pfizer reported that the initial trial results showed that its COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective. That being said, the technicals still provide clues about the direction of precious metals and copper.
Later on in 2008, he began researching areas of the gold and silver market that, curiously, the majority of the precious metal analyst community have left unexplored. S&P 500 futures pointed to a strong open, the 10-year Treasury yield was at 0.883%, oil rose and gold was higher. “SSAB has participated in several different discussions concerning consolidations in the European steel industry,” the company said.

Oil

Meanwhile, China’s crude oil throughput rose 2.6% in October from a year earlier to its highest-ever level as fuel demand firmed on strong holiday travel. Oil markets have largely remained strong over the week with news of the Pfizer vaccine trials and strong demand in Asia supporting the market. India imported 13.5 million tonnes of vegetable oils in the 2019-20 oil year, the Solvent Extractors’ Association said in a statement. Adler Tanks segment has been going through a tough time due to a decline in demand from oil and gas end markets.
The company has been hit by two forces: COVID and the general decline in oil & gas production. This is just as true for natural gas producers like Peyto as it is for Canadian oil sands producers (see Cenovus & Husky: It’s Dog Eat Dog). Malaysian palm oil futures rose, tracking strength in rival Dalian oils, although expectations of a slowdown in exports to top buyers India and China kept a lid on gains. Strong holiday season driving resulted in higher Chinese fuel demand and consequentially in record crude throughputs in the month of October.
US crude output for the week of Nov 08 was steady at 10.5 million bpd. For the two vessels “Navios Gem,” which is a 2014 built Capesize vessel, and the ”Navios Victory” which is a 2014 built Panamax vessel, they paid NM $51 million.

United States

If this first analysis holds up, then mass vaccination can begin in the US next year, which would mean the economy can begin to get back to normal. The US rig count (RIG-OL-USA-BHI) increased for the eighth consecutive week with last week s count reported to have increased by 10 units. Traders are once again shaking off fears about rising coronavirus cases after Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) last week announced strong results for their COVID-19 vaccine.
The US already has a deal for 100 million of those with an option for 500 million more, and numerous other vaccine manufacturers are continuing to improve.
Expectations are high that Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) will report a similar performance for its coronavirus vaccine, which also uses mRNA technology, perhaps as early as today. Surprisingly, India withdrew from the RCEP talks late last year, following Prime Minister Modi’s increasing cooperation with the US-led Indo-Pacific initiative. The actual number of troops in northeast Syria is “a lot more than” the roughly two hundred troops Trump initially agreed to leave there in 2019.
Monday’s deal appears to be the first major banking deal in the US since the combination of BB&T and SunTrust in February 2019. Earlier this week, it was revealed that the outgoing US envoy to Syria, James Jeffrey, had kept the total number of troops inside the Syrian Arab Republic from Trump. Dow futures are ahead by 1%, while contracts tied to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up 0.9% and 0.6%, respectively, building on a recent rotation into value stocks.

China

The deal is being presented as a win for the Chinese government—but its weaknesses leave Beijing far short of a leadership position on regional trade. Indeed, although RCEP is often discussed as China-led—and Beijing’s participation is clearly the most important new element—it was launched by Asean in 2011. Beijing is still some way behind.

Europe

Brexit will remain in focus this week, a crunch week for talks as both sides say that a breakthrough must be made in the coming days. It is not expected to go as far as the European Union in integrating member economies but does build on existing free trade arrangements. Via Worldometers.info Last week Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Germans can expect a “more severe” outbreak during the second wave. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is isolating after coming in contact with a colleague who tested positive.
Macron says Europe can’t go back to relying on U.S. under Biden. German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans further restrictions on public and private gatherings. IT CPI (EU Norm) Final mm for Oct: Expected 0.6%; Prior 0.6% 0900 (approx.)

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