Cotton P&F

 Sugar P&F

Very unfortunate that the ICE is charging an arm and leg for quotes..👎

 Soybeans P&F

 Copper P&F

Notes today:

The Lincoln Project

AOC  raised $4M for Texas emergency aid

@BetoORourke  raised $1M for Texas emergency aid

@tedcruz  flew to Cancun

• Why we can fly helicopters on Mars and have blackouts in Texas? because the first is run by scientists and the second by Republicans. 

• Sweden, which is known for its colder climate, has offered the Lone Star State (Republicans) some advice to keep the wings moving no matter how harsh the weather - and it only requires 'the right gear.' Read this zerohedge

• Much of the country was entertained by watching Ted Cruz squirm as he tried to explain why he had absconded Texas for a beach resort in Cancun. Remind me, how did this  dude vote for Hurricane Sandy emergency aid again? Reports have it that Texans are now getting energy bills in the thousands..$1000 a day -WTF

• Russia said it found the world’s first cases ofthe H5N8 strain of avian influenza in humans though the virus isn’t yet spreading between people.

• JUST IN: AG Nominee Merrick Garland opening statement for confirmation hearing Monday. Calls 1-6 "a heinous attack" and says he'll prosecute "white supremacists & others" involved. 👍👍

Couple of charts to peruse..

 NYSE Advance decline line

NASDAQ Advance decline line

NYSE Volume advance decline line

 Quick Overview is up to date

BTW: I have listened to Steve Freed of ADM and his grain comments for well over 30 years - and found it well worth my time. (Also: this comment is totally unsolicited - he does not even know I'm making it)

Notes Today:

• Murmurs of inflation are ongoing. However, the Fed still sees the risk of inflation to the downside; they think a rate that’s too low is more likely than one that’s too high.

• Aren’t January 6^th insurrectionists on the no-fly list? But, but, it's all my kid's fault!

• A 2011 Texas investigation after similar cold weather-related disruptions proved the need to harden energy infrastructure against freezing temps. Texas never did anything about it...

• No Abbott, it’s not the windmills – it’s you and your republicans. 

• U.S. initial jobless claims rose to 861,000 last week, up 13,000 from an upwardly revised 848,000 in the prior week. Continuing claims declined by 64,000 to 4.49 million.

• The average Mortgage Rate in U.S for a 30-year fixed loan was 2.81%, up from 2.73% last week and the highest since November,

• Texas has halted sales of natural gas outside the state. Could be a problem with the Constitution's Commerce Clause.

 Bloomberg: It turns out that wild fluctuations in polar airflow that many experts blame on  climate change are bad for the industry most responsible for causing it. U.S. oil production has plunged by more than 2 million barrels a day as the coldest weather in 30 years wreaks havoc on key producing states that rarely have to deal with frigid Arctic blasts. Indeed, the unforgiving weather has pushed natural gas prices at one trading hub up 24,000% from just a week ago, halting fracking and even Amazon. Renewable sources also are in trouble, as are power companies. Don’t understand how a hotter planet can be responsible for bone-chilling cold? This is how the science works. —David E. Rovella

Hey Musk and Ellison, are you two dudes moving out of Texas and back to California where the weather is nice and the lights are on? Perhaps paying a bit in taxes to keep the lights on – not such a bad idea.

 Today's front page of the NY Daily News

 By kaltoons

 Quick Overview  is up to date.

 Trump acquitted  .. Sad! Tragic!

" The President was guilty of everything he was accused of...which is why I voted to acquit" Jon Stewart

 Persistent 50-year decline in wages. Share of GDP.

 Notes Today: 

• It seems that the attempted Silver short squeeze by the Reddit crowd has at least temporarily failed. Yet, rising demand as the economy picks up steam may drive prices higher in the long run.

 

• QuickOverview is up to date. 

• Guardian: The volume of exports going through British ports to the EU fell by a staggering 68% last month compared with January last year, mostly as a result of problems caused by Brexit.

•  Bloomberg: Commodities have been on a tear since March and have surged to the highest level in more than six years, with rallies in everything from iron ore to soybeans, copper, and corn. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Ospraie Management LLC are among institutions that have endorsed raw materials as investment plays and predict they have more room to climb.

Notes Today: 

• Adjusting for the people that have dropped out of the labor force, by choice or obligation, the unemployment rate is around 9.5%,” estimated lead U.S. economist Lydia Boussour of Oxford Economics. 

• Consumer credit in the United States increased by $9.73 billion in December of 2020 after rising by a downwardly revised $13.93 billion in the previous month, 

• Bloomberg: By the end of last year, more than 30% of U.S. homeowners were considered equity-rich -- meaning their property was worth twice as much as the underlying mortgage, a report showed. 

• Exxon Mobil posted its first annual loss in at least 40 years. 

• South Korea returned to first place in the latest Bloomberg Innovation Index, while the U.S. dropped out of a top 10 that features a cluster of European countries
  
  
  

 

 

• Guardian: The Texas Republican party has endorsed legislation that would allow state residents to vote whether to secede from the United States.

• President Biden is supposedly on pace to save the U.S.  $124m this year by just not golfing. 

Fox has canceled “Lou Dobbs Tonight” one day after the host was named in a multibillion dollar defamation lawsuit against the network and its parent company.👍😂

Silver is starting the week higher as the reddit crowd piles in. Dealers said they were unable to process orders until Asian markets open because of unprecedented consumption.