Tidbits
Yesterday morning USDA announced the sale of 130,000 mt of old crop corn to unknown.
More than a dozen senior Ukrainian government officials were fired yesterday, including the five regional (states, provinces, oblasts) governors, a deputy defense minister, a deputy prosecutor, a deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office, and two deputy ministers responsible for regional development. The dismissals were in response to international pressure to show Ukraine can be a reliable steward of billions of dollars in Western financial aid. Are these people “taking one for the team” to keep the money rolling in? Very likely… better than 50% chance.
The purge came two days after a deputy infrastructure minister was arrested and accused of siphoning off $400,000 from contracts to buy generators.
February CBOT options expire Friday. The corn option open interest is fairly balanced calls to puts: 188,000 to 172,000 with the largest open interest (OI) in the calls is at 7.00, 7.50 and 8.00 strikes. Largest OI in the puts at 6.00 and 6.50 strike prices.