Overnight Developments

The overnight market is lower Tuesday morning, on ideas that last night's rally was overdone.

It didn't take too long for the "Obama Magic" to wear off then.

Beans are around 10c easier, with corn 3-4c easier and wheat off around a couple of cents.

Confusion over the full implications of China's plans to shore up the domestic market by buying beans, corn & rice are keeping traders cautious.

Crude is flat, 35c easier at $43.36/barrel. Analysts are now talking that OPEC may attempt to shock the market next week with a production cut of up to 3m barrels.

It is interesting to note that, now that we have become used to crude having a daily movement of $4 say, at current levels that represents a 10% fluctuation. Yesterday's $2.90/barrel increase was 7.1%. Whichever way the market is heading from here, it looks like it's going to do it in some pretty big chunks.

Whatever OPEC say, the market will need to see some major degree of compliance, if we are to see any kind of a sustained rally. It's a supply & demand market, and it doesn't look like it's going to go higher from the demand side of the coin anytime soon.

Sony Corp. plans to eliminate 8,000 jobs in the largest reduction announced by a Japanese company since the credit crunch drove the world into a recession.

Democrats in Congress drafted a plan to aid U.S. automakers with $15 billion in loans. Now they must find enough Republican votes to pass it.

The amount is significantly lower than the $34 billion the Big Three were asking for.

With President-elect Barack Obama’s Illinois Senate seat now unoccupied, the Democrats’ majority has narrowed to 50-49, including two independents. That means Democrats, even if they are unified, must attract 10 Republican votes to overcome filibusters.