If we do not see a pickup in relevant news soon, I may have to resort to writing about my favorite Advent/Christmas Carols or provide critiques of current genre Christmas movies. Of course, the latter could be relatively short as these movies’ plot always requires young lovelorn individuals who are brought together serendipitously, but through some crazy circumstances, recognize they were meant for each other and proceed to get married and presumably will live happily ever after. Preferably, a prince or princess will be involved, and if not, everything will need to unfold on a Christmas tree farm or holiday shop. you can click here if you are looking for expert tree surgeon services. Let hope I do not have to resort to this.
We do at least have some news from South America to pass along this morning. According to AgRural, 96% of the soybean acreage is now planted, with crops in the North looking good, but concerns exist with dry conditions in the South. Dr. Cordonnier noted this week that bean planting in the state of Mato Grosso was record fast this year, and crops are looking good. This is the largest bean-producing state in that country (27%), and it is estimated they put in 10.86 million hectares (26.8 million acres) this year, which would be a bit more than the combined totals of the three “I” states here at home. Keep in mind as well that early planting will potentially translate into an early harvest. This will not only mean Brazilian beans will be available for the world market earlier than normal, but it should also allow early planting of the safrinha corn and cotton crops. Dr. Cordonnier has left his production estimate at 144 MMT, and this morning ABIOVE, the Brazilian Oilseed Processing Organization, bumped their estimate up 700k MT to 144.8 MMT. Due to the ongoing dry weather, Dr. Cordonnier lowered his corn production estimate 1 MMT to 116 MMT. In Argentina, soybean planting has reached 56.3% complete, and corn 39.5% complete.
The November PPI numbers were released this morning, and as you probably already expected, they were higher. The Final Demand figure came through at +.8% versus the anticipated +.5, and when food and energy were excluded, the number slipped to +.7% compared to an expected +.4. Personal Consumption rose .9% for the month.
In the macro scene this morning, we have energies and metals under pressure, Bitcoin a bit higher, financial instruments flat, equities lower and the dollar higher.