Watson was buying corn again last week, switching to a net-long futures position of 17,840 contracts as of Tuesday, October 22.
Commercial traders have also been buying of late, most noticeable in the trends of futures spreads.
However, the increased commercial interest could be tied to fear of more tariffs and trade wars with key US trading partners.
After talking about King Gold the previous week, this past week saw King Corn draw more attention. I’ve talked in the past about what it would take for Watson[i] to get more interested in corn long-term, most notably a change in real market fundamentals[ii]. After the dust had settled on last Friday’s session and the latest CFTC Commitments of Traders report (legacy, futures only[iii]) was released, we saw the expected move to a net-long futures position by noncommercial traders (Watson, funds, speculators, etc.). And while the market looks to be getting more excited, there are some long-term issues that could pour cold water on the situation.
