Futures Insights

Monday, February 28, 2011

The metals and the softs were the biggest movers today. The metals segment was up 1.1%, with most of that movement coming from silver, which rose 2.7%. COMEX silver inventories remain tight Click to see COMEX Silver Stocks and today was 1st notice day lfor the March contract'

The softs complex was up over 2.0% with March cotton ending the day over 7.0% higher and March sugar was up over 3.0% on its last day of trading. As we noted earlier, Chinese benchmark Cotton rose 7.0% (the daily limit) after China's National Bureau of Statistics reported that cotton out fell over 6.25% in 2010.

Press to view end of day cotton prices

As you can see from the 25 year chart, NY cotton has risen sharply over the last 6 months.

This NOAA link outlines some of the fundamental reasons for the recent strength in the Ag sector.
There were adverse growing conditions in Russia, Brazil, Pakistan, China and Australia that propelled cotton prices to record levels,
NOAA Top 10 Climate Events for 20010

Economic Data

#1) Personal Income & Spending

________________________	Prior	Prior Revised	Consensus	Consensus Range	Actual
Personal Income - M/M chg	0.4 %		0.4 %	0.2 % to 1.2 %	1.0 %
Personal Income - Yr/Yr chg	3.8 %				4.6 %

________________________	Prior	Prior Revised	Consensus	Consensus Range	Actual
Consumer Spending- M/M chg	0.7 %	0.5 %	0.4 %	0.3 % to 0.5 %	0.2 %
Consumer Spending - Yr/Yr chg	4.1 %	3.9 %			4.0 %

#2) Chicago PMI

________________________	Prior	Consensus	Consensus Range	Actual
Business Barometer Index - Level	68.8	68.0	66.8 to 70.3	71.2

#3) Pending Home Sales

___________________________	Prior	Prior Revised	Actual
Pending Home Sales Index - Level	93.7		88.9
Pending Home Sales Index - M/M	2.0 %	91.5 %	-2.8 %

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