Quick Overview

• The Canadian Wheat Board said the start to the season is 10 days to three weeks behind schedule.

• YoY U.S. housing starts rose 549,000 in March, and up 7.2% MoM. A glut of housing on the market will make further gains difficult.

• The world's oldest man is celebrating his 114th birthday with a traditional Japanese meal. Jirouemon Kimura began his new year with a breakfast of grilled fish with steamed rice and red beans.

• Construction output in the euro zone fell 0.7% MoM

• Japanese consumer confidence fell from 41.2 in February to 38.6 in March

• Cotton leaf curl virus may play havoc with the cotton crop in Pakistan
  
  
• Mark Welch, grain marketing specialist at Texas A&M predicts Texas will produce about 33M bushels of wheat, roughly one-third its average harvest. China and Western Europe also are dry.