The Morning Vibe

29/07/11 -- Harold Wilson famously once said that "24 hours is a long time in politics" (along with "I'll have a quarter of rough shag please"). So we awake this morning full of anticipation to see what has happened with the US debt ceiling issue only to discover that the answer is nothing at all.

Last night's Republican vote was postponed it would seem as House Speaker John Boehner realised that he still didn't have enough support to push his budget deficit-cutting plan through.

So where are we now? Facing another long 24 hour wait for something to happen by the looks of it. Yet the markets seem strangely calm and relaxed about the whole thing as Tuesday's deadline approaches.

Elsewhere the slowest car crash in history rumbles on, Moody's have said that Spain is facing a possible credit rating downgrade, and suggest that the latest Greek bailout hasn't really changed things.

I have to say that I'm surprised by the grain market's ability to largely shrug off these negative vibes, especially in the light of a plethora of "nowhere near as bad as we feared" reports coming in for all over the place now that the harvest is well underway across the northern hemisphere.

Egypt are back to feed at the trough today, looking for an unspecified quantity of wheat. The main point of interest there will be how much cheaper than everybody else Russian grain is likely to be this time round.

Ukraine has harvested 28.1 MMT of grains so far with yields up 22%, according to the Ministry.

August Paris rapeseed goes off the board today.