Soy and Corn Fall Due to U.S. Harvests and Potential Rain in Brazil

Posted on October 9, 2024 by Ignacio Teson

Soybean and corn futures in Chicago fell on Tuesday, as the rapid progress of the U.S. harvest and forecasts of rain in Brazil’s drought-affected growing regions fueled expectations of abundant global supplies, according to traders.

Wheat prices also dropped, as the recent strength of the U.S. dollar outweighed support from overly dry weather in key production areas. A stronger dollar typically reduces the competitiveness of U.S. exports.

“Everywhere you look, the planting weather isn’t ideal,” noted one analyst.

Steady progress in U.S. planting, where 51% of winter wheat had been sown by Sunday, eased concerns about the dry conditions.

The most active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) dropped 21.25 cents to $10.1275 per bushel, hitting its lowest point in two weeks. Chicago corn fell 6 cents to $4.20 per bushel, marking its lowest since September 30, while CBOT wheat lost 0.5 cents to $5.92 per bushel.

Grain markets were also pressured by falling crude oil prices, as investors weighed the ongoing military escalation in the Middle East.

Traders are also focused on the U.S. government’s monthly crop forecasts due on Friday, which will include updated estimates for corn and soybean harvests, following last month’s projections of record yields for both crops.

Gold prices drop by 1%, marking the largest decline in 45 days.

Posted on October 9, 2024 by Ignacio Teson

Interest rates in the U.S. could decline less than the market had predicted, impacting the price of the precious metal in international markets.

Gold prices fell more than 1% on Tuesday, marking their biggest percentage drop in a month and a half, as the latest U.S. employment data reduced expectations of a significant rate cut. Meanwhile, markets awaited the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting for further signals.

Spot gold dropped 1.1%, to $2,615.50 per ounce, marking its fifth consecutive session of losses and falling well below the all-time high of $2,685.42 from September 26. U.S. gold futures slid 1.2%, to $2,634.60 per ounce. The decline over the last two days is attributed to changing expectations regarding interest rate cuts.

Bond yields have risen, and the outlook on further rate cuts has been revised.

According to the CME’s FedWatch tool, markets had priced in a 50-basis-point rate cut for the Federal Reserve’s November meeting following last week’s strong employment report. However, they now see an 87% chance of a 25-basis-point cut.

Markets are now focused on the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting, which are set to be released on Wednesday, followed by U.S. Consumer Price Index data on Thursday and the Producer Price Index on Friday.

[[XAU/USD-graph]]

U.S. inflation data due Thursday is expected to show further easing in price pressures, but it is unlikely to spark speculation of additional rate cuts by the Fed. As a result, any rise in gold prices will likely be driven mainly by geopolitical risks.

Gold-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded their fifth consecutive month of inflows in September, as North American ETFs increased their holdings, the World Gold Council reported on Tuesday.

In other metals, spot silver dropped 4.2% to $30.39 per ounce, platinum fell 1.7% to $955.55, and palladium declined 1.7% to $1,006.61.

Aluminum is nearing a two-week low due to falling energy prices.

Three-month aluminum on the London Metal Exchange (LME) hit $2,564.50 per metric ton, its lowest since September 26, and later settled down 3.3% at $2,570.50 per ton.

As for industrial metals, three-month copper fell to $9,700 per ton, its lowest since September 24, and closed down 1.6% at $9,769. Nickel dropped 2.2% to $17,650 per ton.

Ethereum Layer-2 Scroll Announces Native Token Launch and Airdrop

Posted on October 9, 2024 by Arslan Butt

Scroll, a leading Ethereum layer-2 (L2) network, has unveiled plans to launch its native token, SCR, marking a significant milestone in the project’s development. The announcement, made on October 8, 2024, outlines the token’s distribution strategy and its role in Scroll’s decentralization efforts.

As a zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup, Scroll competes with other L2 solutions such as ZKsync Era and Starknet. The project has gained significant traction since its 2023 launch, boasting a total value locked (TVL) of $1.2 billion at the time of writing, according to L2Beat.

SCR Token: A Step Towards Decentralization

Scroll describes the SCR token launch as its “first step toward decentralization.” The token will serve as the primary governance mechanism for the protocol, with plans to evolve into a utility token as Scroll progresses towards a more decentralized structure.

The total supply of SCR is set at 1 billion tokens, with the following allocation:

15% for airdrops
35% for ecosystem growth
17% for investors
10% for the Scroll Foundation
23% for contributors

Airdrop and Exchange Listing

Scroll has announced two key events for the SCR token:

An airdrop scheduled for October 22, 2024, targeting existing Scroll users
A listing on Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges

The initial airdrop will distribute approximately 7% of the total SCR supply, with Scroll stating that it aims “to reward onchain users who have been actively engaging with the Scroll ecosystem.”

Binance Launchpool and Pre-market Trading

In collaboration with Binance, Scroll will participate in the Binance Launchpool program. Starting October 9, users can farm SCR tokens by staking BNB or FDUSD for two days. A total of 55 million SCR tokens (5.5% of the total supply) has been allocated for this event.

Binance will also offer pre-market trading for SCR beginning October 11, allowing early investors to take positions before the official spot market listing.

Ethereum Layer-2 Scroll Announces SCR Native Token Launch and Airdrop

Posted on October 9, 2024 by Arslan Butt

SCR Token: A Step Towards Decentralization

The total supply of SCR is set at 1 billion tokens, with the following allocation:

15% for airdrops
35% for ecosystem growth
17% for investors
10% for the Scroll Foundation
23% for contributors

Airdrop and Exchange Listing

Scroll has announced two key events for the SCR token:

An airdrop scheduled for October 22, 2024, targeting existing Scroll users
A listing on Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges

The initial airdrop will distribute approximately 7% of the total SCR supply, with Scroll stating that it aims “to reward onchain users who have been actively engaging with the Scroll ecosystem.”

Binance Launchpool and Pre-market Trading

Binance will also offer pre-market trading for SCR beginning October 11, allowing early investors to take positions before the official spot market listing.

Markets Wait For Key Monetary Policy Triggers

Posted on October 9, 2024 by RTT Staff Writer

Muted sentiment prevailed in world markets ahead of the release of the FOMC minutes on Wednesday and the CPI readings from the U.S. on Thursday. Concerns about the Middle East conflict as well as the lack of further stimulus measures from China also weighed heavily on market sentiment.

According to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool that tracks the expectations of interest rate traders, the likelihood of a quarter-point cut in the next Fed review in November has increased to 89 percent from 84 percent a week earlier.

Wall Street Futures are trading in positive territory. European benchmarks are trading mostly lower. China opened higher after the holidays whereas major Asian markets closed in the red.

Dollar Index has edged down. Bond yields mostly hardened. Crude oil prices slipped amidst profit booking even as markets geared for the next action on the war front. Gold prices edged up. Major cryptocurrencies are trading in the red zone.

Here is a snapshot of the major world markets at this hour.

Stock Indexes:

DJIA (US30) at 42,020.10 up 0.16%
S&P 500 (US500) at 5,720.00, up 0.42%
Germany’s DAX at 19,098.25, up 0.02%
U.K.’s FTSE 100 at 8,217.61, down 1.04%
France’s CAC 40 at 7,541.15, down 0.46%
Euro Stoxx 50 at 4,952.85, down 0.34%
Japan’s Nikkei 225 at 38,907.50, down 1.26%
Australia’s S&P ASX 200 at 8,176.90, down 0.35%
China’s Shanghai Composite at 3,489.78, up 4.59%
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng at 20,926.79, down 9.41%

Currencies:

EUR/USD at 1.0983, up 0.08%
GBP/USD at 1.3101, up 0.14%
USD/JPY at 147.93, down 0.17%
AUD/USD at 0.6740, down 0.25%
USD/CAD at 1.3639, up 0.17%
Dollar Index at 102.41, down 0.12%

Ten-Year Govt Bond Yields:

U.S. at 4.031%, up 0.05%
Germany at 2.2530%, up 0.13%
France at 3.031%, up 0.33%
U.K. at 4.2390%, up 0.69%
Japan at 0.924%, down 0.22%

Commodities:

Brent Oil Futures (Dec) at $79.56, down 1.69%.
Crude Oil WTI Futures (Nov) at $75.81, down 1.72%.
Gold Futures (Dec) at $2,666.75, up 0.03%.

Cryptocurrencies:

Bitcoin at $62,467.63, down 0.69%
Ethereum at $2,430.99, down 0.89%
BNB at $574.39, up 0.84%
Solana at $144.13, down 1.68%
XRP at $0.5306, down 0.46%.

China State Planner Says Exploring More Actions To Boost Growth

Posted on October 9, 2024 by RTT Staff Writer

The Chinese government is planning more steps to support economic growth and is confident of achieving its full year economic target, the country’s top state planner said Tuesday, and announced more funding initiatives for projects, but defied expectations by not unveiling any major stimulus.

Zheng Shanjie, head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said in a press conference that the fundamentals of the Chinese economic development have not changed, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

His remarks came after the mainland China resumed work after the week-long National Day holiday.

In September, authorities unveiled a massive stimulus package to underpin the economy reeling under the pressures of deflation and the property market crisis.

The stimulus package included measures such as a reduction to the People’s Bank of China’s reserve requirement ratio for banks, steps to support the property markets, and efforts to underpin the capital market.

Zheng said the pro-growth package was designed to strengthen counter-cyclical macro policy adjustment, boost domestic demand, to provide support to businesses and, to stabilize the real estate market and boost the capital market, Xinhua reported.

The top official observed that China’s long-term economic prospects remain unchanged, and the Chinese economy has strong resilience and ample potential to expand, the Global Times reported.

The government is planning to unveil more investment projects, including 100 billion yuan or $14.2 billion from next year’s central government budget, the Chinese media reports said, citing state officials at the press conference.

Another 100 billion yuan is to be allocated for key investment projects by the end of this year, they said.

Zheng said an additional 1 trillion yuan of ultra-long special treasury bonds has been fully allocated to the projects and local governments and the government will continue issuing ultra-long special treasury bonds in 2025.

With FOMC, CPI On The Anvil, Cryptos Eye Fed Cues

Posted on October 9, 2024 by RTT Staff Writer

An anxious wait to the minutes of the Federal Open Markets Committee that surprised markets with a 50-basis points cut and the scheduled release of CPI and PPI readings from the U.S kept crypto markets on tenterhooks early on Tuesday. The FOMC Minutes is due on Wednesday followed by the CPI data on Thursday and the PPI data on Friday.

A sharp drop in the rate cut expectations after the superb jobs report on Friday weighed on crypto market sentiment. The CME FedWatch tool shows expectations of a pause by the Fed at 13 percent and of a quarter-point cut at 87 percent. Amidst the repricing of rate cut expectations, overall crypto market capitalization has fallen to $2.16 trillion from $2.20 trillion a day earlier.

Bitcoin slipped half a percent overnight to trade at $62,710.60, around 15 percent below the all-time high. BTC has shed 0.80 percent in the past week while holding on to gains of more than 48 percent in 2024. The original cryptocurrency traded between $64,443.71 and $62,024.60 in the past 24 hours.

Data from Farside Investors on Bitcoin Spot ETF products in the U.S. showed a net inflow of $235 million on Monday as compared with $26 million on Friday.

Ethereum declined 1.3 percent in the past 24 hours to trade at $2,435.95, around 50 percent below the previous peak. Weekly losses exceed 6.5 percent. Gains in 2024 have decreased to close to 6.7 percent. Ether traded between $2,520.41 and $2,405.13 in the past 24 hours.

Data from Farside Investors on Ethereum Spot ETF products in the U.S. showed nil flows on Monday versus a net inflow of $7.4 million on Friday.

4th ranked BNB (BNB) added 0.5 percent overnight, clocking weekly gains of 0.3 percent at its current trading price of $575.99.

5th ranked Solana (SOL) shed 2.2 percent overnight, increasing weekly losses to 7.2 percent. SOL is currently trading at $143.77.

7th ranked XRP (XRP) has shed 2.3 percent overnight to trade at $0.529. Amidst weekly losses of 15.7 percent, the cryptocurrency issued by Ripple Labs has erased close to 14 percent on a year-to-date basis.

8th ranked Dogecoin (DOGE) slipped 3.8 percent overnight to trade at $0.1072.

9th ranked TRON (TRX) added 0.4 percent overnight but edged down 0.3 percent in the past week. TRX is currently changing hands at $0.1564.

10th ranked Toncoin (TON) slipped more than a percent overnight. TON is currently trading at $5.19.

94th ranked First Neiro On Ethereum (NEIRO), a Shiba Inu dog-themed meme coin topped overnight gains with a surge of 12.6 percent. 23rd ranked Aptos (APT) followed with overnight rally of 6.6 percent whereas 95th ranked EigenLayer (EIGEN) added more than 5 percent in the past 24 hours.

86th ranked FTX Token (FTT) is the greatest laggard with an overnight decline of close to 14 percent. 59th ranked Popcat (POPCAT) followed with overnight losses of more than 11 percent.

Meanwhile, amidst the stronger-than-expected economic data from the U.S. that reduced the likelihood of massive rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, digital asset investment products suffered reversal of flows during the past week. The CoinShares’ Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly report showed outflows of $147 million during the week ended October 4 as compared with inflows of $1.2 billion during the week ended September 27 and inflows of $321 million during the week ended September 21. Year-to-date flows have decreased to $23.5 billion. According to the report, Bitcoin topped flows by asset, Ark21Shares topped flows by provider and United States topped flows by country during the past week.

Bitcoin-based products dominated with outflows of $159 million. Ethereum-based products also recorded outflows of $28.9 million. Multi-asset products received inflows of $29.4 million. Solana-based products followed with inflows of $5.3 million whereas Short Bitcoin products got inflows of $2.8 million.

More than 80 percent of the cumulative AUM of $86.7 billion is attributed to Bitcoin products that account for an AUM of $70.2 billion. Bitcoin’s dominance of crypto market is much lower, at around 57 percent. AUM of Ethereum products stood at $9.8 billion. Multi-asset portfolios command assets under management of $4.3 billion. An AUM of $1.2 billion is attributed to Solana-based products and $545 million to Binance-based products.

The provider-wise analysis of flows inter alia shows outflows of $207 million from Ark 21Shares. Fidelity ETF recorded outflows of $139 million followed by Grayscale Investments that recorded outflows of $112 million.

iShares ETF however recorded inflows of $191 million.

iShares ETF tops with a cumulative AUM of $23.9 billion implying a share of 27.6 percent. Though year-to-date outflows are more than $19.6 billion, Grayscale Investments still accounts for an AUM of $19.7 billion, which is 22.7 percent of the cumulative AUM of $86.7 billion. Fidelity commands an AUM of $11.1 billion, followed by ARK 21Shares and 21Shares that have both mobilized assets under management to the tune of $3 billion. The top 3 viz iShares, Grayscale Investments and Fidelity account for more than 63 percent of the total AUM.

The country-wise analysis shows weekly outflows of $209 million from United States. Canada recorded inflows of $43 million followed by Switzerland that received inflows of $34.9 million.

Of the cumulative AUM of $86.7 billion, $65.6 billion or 75.6 percent is in United States. Switzerland follows with AUM of $4.7 billion whereas Canada accounts for an AUM of $4.3 billion. Germany accounts for an AUM of $3.6 billion followed by Sweden with an AUM of $2.7 billion.

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