Grains Calm Down, Oil Surges

Fortunately, wheat and other grains prices appear to have calmed down and moderated somewhat mid-session today. It remains to be seen whether the Chicago Mercantile Exchange will return to the 30 cent daily lock limit, if prices remain stable. It would certainly be possible for renewed buying interest to push prices back toward the lock limit of $11.53, also. Both soybeans and corn are trading modestly down today. Here is the mid-session commentary taken verbatim from the CME website:

"Overflow support from Minneapolis is easing and sellers were active in Chicago and Kansas City and the markets quickly moved from sharply higher to sharply lower on the day for many contracts. A lack of new demand news and fears that the market is close to a top sparked increased selling pressures.... An increase in margin requirements added to the long liquidation trend."

Crude Oil Turmoil

Oil, on the other hand, has surged to higher prices, even following a significant jump in prices last Friday. Unfortunately, much of the world's crude oil rests in the hands of the world's dictators, and they have learned that they can talk the price of oil up by issuing threats. Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's socialist dictator, is creating more and more turmoil at home, confiscating more and more private property. His poll numbers are dropping, so he talks foolish rhetoric against the United States. This has driven the price of crude oil higher today.