Highlights
Russia launched a heavy barrage of missile attacks on two cities in northeast Ukraine Friday and announced it will reduce crude oil production by a half million barrels a day in March. The escalation of the war and crude oil cut both hit the news wires about an hour after we sent yesterday’s mailing. We do not see the oil production cut any more than a day or two market reaction that appeared to be completely absorbed yesterday afternoon.
The war escalation prompted some of the holders of the big short wheat futures position to pee their pants and become big time wheat buyers yesterday. The short covering rally probably will continue most of this month.
India’s state of Punjab is the nation’s largest wheat producing state. Officials reported Punjab's wheat stocks have never been smaller than they are now. In response, India will release 1.6 milion mt of wheat from government reserves to keep a lid on wheat prices.