[01/03] The year started with heavy numbers of confirmed corona virus cases around the world. USA have about 300K over the weekend. UK have around 135K, Italy have 61K, France has about 58K…well, honestly, looks like many countries almost stopped to count new cases. Not much room to manage this pandemic anymore. Anyway, despite of all these bad news, stock markets were ending quite strongly today. DJ up 0.43%, S&P up 0.43% and NASDAQ up 0.94%… Apple hit the USD 3 Trillion stock market value today. That’s the first time in human history, one single entity reached that value. Investors are still worries of this virus, but overall OPTIMISM overpowered the fear. This sentence could be the one straightens out the perception of year 2022. Crude oil also ended strong on the first day of the new year. Brent oil futures ended at $78.98 per barrel today, up 1.54% from the last trading day of 2021. OPEC+ members and US shale oil producers are all keep claiming that still the price is too low, comparing the rising production cost… So, cliché but have to admit that some of them are true. In Ag market, it was scary start in the morning. The governor of Parana state in Brazil declared the state of emergency today due to the heavy drought. They say that about 8M MT of soybeans and 2M MT of corns are gone in Parana state alone due to the drought. Eventually, market calmed down at the end of the day, but soybeans and meals were ending quite strongly at the first day of New year. CONAB will announce their monthly estimation at the end of this week, but they wouldn’t count this recent drought damages this time. STONE X estimated 134M MT of soybeans out of Brazil this year, a month ago, their number was 145M MT. 12M MT of difference in a month. They estimated 118M MT of corn numbers today, a month ago, it was 120M MT. So, corn and beans only and Brazil only (don’t count Argentine, Paraguay and other nearby countries yet) about 14M MT of soybeans and corns are gone. Still, big number and still, no one knows exactly how bad they are but looks bad already. Chinese are quiet last night, still holiday there. However, if they can calculate, they would wait for a while. Somehow, Ag market becomes hot region again with SA drought.
