What you need to know before trading futures on Feb. 12 2025: CPI tomorrow, Feeder Cattle Outlook

Movers and Shakers by John Thorpe, Senior Broker : Tomorrow (CPI) before the open, CSCO After the close

Fed Powell’s testimony in the Senate had the market moving today.

Gold started to sell off well before the testimony began, down $25.00 then as Powell spoke @ 10 EST, the market rallied from that point in somewhat of a slough to unchanged, but struggled to breakout and looks to close a shade off yesterday, down 8 bucks. Holding rates for quite some time longer didn’t add fuel to the current rally. Powell testifies tomorrow in the House, same time.

The S&P 500 rallied from Powell’s opening remarks 20 points, then fell back at the 2-hour mark to where it began:6070.00 only to rally NEARLY 30 POINTS FROM THERE AFTER THE CONCLUSION. However, they look to close unchanged at the time of this writing. 6088.00.  This was a very tradeable day.

After scanning several markets Energies, Bonds, Dollar index. They all finished the day right about where they were prior to Powell’s opening remarks accept for the US Dollar, which closed lower as Gold retained some of it’s luster.

 WASDE was released this morning as well, whose results weighed on domestic Ag row crop prices, Beans down 6 cents, Corn down 7.5-6.25 for old crop, new crop Dec down a penny (will grains in the future be quoted in pennies with the dissolution of the one cent coin?) Wheat down between 2.5 to 7 cents across the board and protein spectrum. Cotton bucked the trend and had a strong rally after the numbers, up .74 basis the May contract.

As for the softs, Coffee lost some caffeine today, down from it’s all-time highs, 15 + cents per pound @ 413.45

Market volatility is here to stay for the foreseeable future

Choose your opportunities wisely.

Tomorrow: CPI (Consumer Price Index) before the open, Fed Powell Testimony in the House of Representatives 9 am CST, Fed Bostic 11:00 am CST . Earnings: Cisco After the close, CME Group, before the open