Highlights
Yesterday’s news included the US Congressional visit to Taiwan for the purpose of jerking China’s chain, additional rain in the forecast with cooler temperatures for the Corn Belt and the Bank of China cut its interest rate. Lower interest rates improve economic activity, which increases demand. But gloom and doom mentality reared its ugly head yesterday as the market took the position that China’s economy must be in worse shape than expected and, thus, the country's demand for commodities will be reduced drastically, with crude oil and soybean leading the way down. Let’s not forget 1.3 billion people eat a lot of farm products, including large amounts of USA corn, beans, and pork. That is why prices recovered to some extent late Monday trading and moved higher before midnight last.