Market Report for 4.25.11

Economic Data

 New Home Sales

New Home Sales - Level - SAAR

Prev 250 K

Rev 270 K

Est 280 K

Range 270 K to 300 K

Act 300 K

The median price did post an increase from last month’s 8-year low. The distressed sales of existing homes continues to weigh on the new home sector.

Grains+1.63%

RR+3.47% C+3.42% W+3.31% O+2.12% S+0.65% SM+0.64% BO-0.10% RS-0.45%

Technical Note: May Rough Rice breaks above it's 50d MA for the 1st time since late February. The market is attempting to fill in a price gap left on daily charts.

The USDA crop progress reports shows that rice plantings are 32% below last year and 13% below its 4 year average.

Weather concerns rallied the grain complex. (April is on track to be the wettest on record for Illinois, Indiana and Ohio while dry weather is  stressing crops in the southern Great Plains, China and parts of Europe.)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-25/corn-wheat-advance-as-adverse-weather-threatens-to-reduce-global-harvests.html

The USDA Crop Progress reports shows plantings are behind schedule and crop conditions are blow normal.

http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/CropProg/CropProg-04-25-2011.txt

Metals+0.22%

SI+2.88% GC+0.45% PL+0.37% PA-0.55% HG-2.26%

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/25/markets-global-idUSN2521875120110425

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-25/silver-surges-to-all-time-high-on-accelerating-inflation-industry-demand.html?pid=sfc

Financials+0.20%

ZB+0.39% ZN+0.27% ZF+0.22% ZU+0.06% ED-0.01%

 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-24/gross-s-bearish-treasury-bet-clashes-with-dealers-seeing-scope-for-rally.html

Energies+0.11%

ZK+1.51% RB+0.36% CL-0.07% HO-0.60% NG-0.86%

Indices+0.05% CRB -0.15% VIX -2.51%

NQ+0.17% EW+0.14% ES+0.02% RJ-0.05% YM-0.11%

Currencies-0.06%

SF+0.29% EC+0.08% JY+0.07% USD unch MP-0.06% AD-0.22% CD-0.25% BP-0.28%

Softs-0.30%

LB+0.82% CT+0.76% CC-0.06% OJ-0.53% KC-1.17%         SB-1.61%

Market Wrap for 4.20.11

Economic Reports

MBA Purchase Applications

Purchase Index - W/W Change	Prev      -4.7 %	Curr 10.0 %
Refinance Index - W/W Change	-7.7 %	2.7 %
Composite Index - W/W Change	-6.7 %	5.3 %

Existing Home Sales

Existing Home Sales - Level - SAAR	Prev 4.88 M	Rev 4.920 M	Est 5.000 M	Range 4.750 M to 5.100 M	Act 5.10 M
Existing Home Sales - M/M Change	-9.6 %	-8.9 %			3.7 %
Existing Home Sales - Yr/Yr Change	-2.8 %				-6.3 %

Existing home sales rose 3.7% last month to an annual rate of 5.1mil. The median Price was up 2.2% to $159,600. Y-O-Y prices fell 5.9%. Distressed sales made up 40% of all transactions. 35% of sales were for cash.

EIA Petroleum Inventories

http://ir.eia.gov/wpsr/wpsrsummary.pdf

Stocks		Change From Last
04/15/11		Week	Year
Crude Oil	357.0	-2.3	1.1
Gasoline	208.1	-1.6	-16.8
Distillate	148.3	-2.5	-0.5
Propane	26.386	-0.360	-4.412

Gasoline Demand (Million Barrels per Day)

Week Ending			Year Ago
04/01/11	04/08/11	04/15/11	04/16/10
8.853	9.181	9.062	9.152

http://platts.com/PressReleases/2011/042011b

Market Activity

Metals+2.26%

PA +4.06% SI+2.81% HG+2.65% PL+1.85% GC+0.41%

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_COMMODITIES_REVIEW_SUMMARY_BOX?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Indices+1.82% CRB +0.30% VIX -4.97%

RJ+2.08% NQ+1.93% EW+1.89% ES+1.53% YM+1.39%

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-20/vix-retreats-to-lowest-since-2007-as-corporate-earnings-exceed-estimates.html

Energies+0.92%

CL+2.91% HO+1.91% RB+1.10% NG+0.94% ZK-2.14%

Currencies+0.60%

AD+1.66% EC+1.26% SF+1.24% MP+0.59% BP+0.55%     CD+0.38% JY+0.03%

Grains+0.17%

RR+1.61% S+1.17% BO+1.06% SM+0.81% RS+0.63% W-0.10% O-1.65% C-2.17%

Softs-0.11%

SB+3.83% OJ+1.41% KC+1.10% CC+0.61% CT-3.50% LB-4.10%

Because of the holiday shortened week, front-month (May) cotton was sharply lower as traders liquidated long positions ahead of 1^st notice day, which is Monday

Financials-0.28%

ED+0.01%  ZT-0.02%  ZF-0.23% ZN-0.31%  ZB-0.46%