From daily futures:
U.S. Economy
The U.S. Commerce Department said that real GDP was down .25% in the second quarter and 3.9% from a year ago, a little better than expected.The U.S. Labor Department said that jobless claims were down 10,000 last week to 570,000, a little more than expected.
The FDIC said that they have identified 416 problem banks, the most in 15 years.
Grains and Cotton
The USDA said that, as of last week, 2008-2009 exports of:
Corn improved from down 27% to down 26% from a year ago. Soybeans remained up 10% from a year ago (with one week left in the season).The USDA said that 2009-2010 exports of:
Wheat improved from down 48% to down 47% from a year ago.
Cotton improved from down 49% to down 41% from a year ago.
December cotton closed up .17 at 57.64.The USDA said that South Korea bought 105,000 tons of U.S. corn for 2009-2010. December corn was steady to lower for most of the day, but ended up 3 cents at $3.292.
Japan bought 97,000 tons of wheat from the U.S., 42,000 tons from Australia, and 21,000 tons from Canada. December wheat was down 3.75 cents at $5.03.
Livestock
The USDA said that net sales of beef totaled 9,200 tons, down from 11,400 tons the previous week. October cattle were up .20 at 87.57.Coffee
Dow Jones Newswires quoted one analyst as saying that Vietnam’s 2009-2010 coffee crop will be down 15% due to poor weather conditions. December coffee fell 3.15 cents to $1.2135.Cocoa
Have cocoa prices seen their peak? December cocoa closed down $137 at $2,821. Dow Jones Newswires said that the weather in West Africa has been favorable for the developing cocoa crop.Orange juice
November orange juice was down .95 to 94.75 as Florida continues to remain safe so far this hurricane season.Energies
The U.S. Department of Energy said that underground supplies of natural gas were up 54 billion cubic feet last week to 3.258 trillion cubic feet. Supplies are now up 19% from a year ago. October natural gas closed down 8.8 cents at $3.206.Currencies
The U.K.’s Office for National Statistics said that business investment was down 10% in the second quarter and down 18% from a year ago, the weakest since 1967.The September yen finished up .0078 at 1.0700 ahead of tomorrow’s unemployment report.
Mr. Roche is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Discipline Funds.Discipline Funds is a low fee financial advisory firm with a focus on helping people be more disciplined with their finances.
He is also the author of Pragmatic Capitalism: What Every Investor Needs to Understand About Money and Finance, Understanding the Modern Monetary System and Understanding Modern Portfolio Construction.
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