Crude Prices Remain Range-Bound

Crude Oil: January Crude Oil contracts are trading higher, as traders try to anticipate a reduction in U.S. supplies. Speculative trading is betting that the inevitable winter season will bring a rise to demand, lowering current supplies. More will be seen with tomorrow’s U.S. Crude Inventories report. Traders also remain wary of next month’s OPEC meeting, where additional production cuts are expected to be announced. The market does remain skeptical that the cuts will be fully implemented. January Crude Oil futures are currently trading down 60 cents at $58.37 a barrel.

Corn: December Corn futures ended the overnight session relatively flat. Last night’s activity was quiet, after another volatile day of trading. Monday saw Corn futures settle higher, but were well off their intraday highs. Several contract months set new life-of-contract highs and traded at levels not seen in 10 years. Profit-taking after these new highs were established took the early steam out of the market. December Corn on the eCBOT ended the overnight session up 1/4 cent at $360.25 a bushel.

S&P: December S&P 500 futures are trading relatively flat in early trading. S&P futures traded around the flat line for most of the evening. Traders are trying to weigh the strength of the recent rally heading into the end of the calendar year. There are no economic numbers scheduled for today. This leaves traders looking for corporate news to react to during this holiday week. Boeing (BA) was able to land a $5.5 billion order from Korean Air, and there was also an analyst upgrade on Verizon Communications (VZ). December S&P 500 futures are trading up 0.80 at 1406.10 in pre-market trading.