Canola futures fell Friday, pressured by lower soy oil and crude oil that reacted to signs of trouble in the U.S. economy.
Markets generally were under pressure because of a disappointing U.S. jobs report.
The U.S. created 115,000 jobs in April, well below forecasts of 170,000. It was the third month of decreased hiring.
However, as more people give up looking for work, the unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent.
May canola closed at $629.40 per tonne, down $2.10.
July closed at $620.50, down $3.90.
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November closed at $577.70, down $1.30.
Over the week, the July contract fell $17 per tonne, but new crop November fell only $2.60.
While nearby futures are down, it appears basis is adjusting to keep the cash price fairly steady.
• Statistics Canada releases a quarterly stocks update on Monday.
A Reuters poll of traders found the average guess for canola stocks is 4.7 million tonnes, down 24 percent from last year at the same time.
Canola exports are running well ahead of last year.
• Old crop soybeans and corn rose Friday but new crop was down.
May corn jumped 1.77 percent higher on firm cash markets and no deliveries against the contract. New crop dropped about one percent.
• Analysts Informa Economics today pegged U.S. soybean seedings at 75.822 million acres, up from 74.2 million in its previous outlook, and trimmed the outlook for corn area to 96.124 million acres, from 96.4 million previously.
Informa also released an outlook for next year’s South American soybean crop. It thinks production will soar in Brazil to a record 80.5 million tonnes and in Argentina to 60 million tonnes.
It pegged this year’s drought ravaged Argentine soy crop at 40 million tonnes and Brazil’s crop at 66.5 million tonnes
• Informa raised its forecast for 2012 U.S. winter wheat production to 1.656 billion bushels from its previous estimate of 1.631 billion. On Thursday an industtry tour scouting the crop in Kansas said record yields were possible. The 2011 drought-reduced crop crop was 1.493 billion bu.
• The Canadian Oilseed Processors Association reported members crushed 140,849 tonnes of canola in the week ending May 2, down 5.5 percent from the week before. That represents a capacity use of about 85 percent, down from the year’s average to date of 90.5 percent and reflecting the poorer crush margins.
Winnipeg (per tonne)
Canola May 12 $626.80, down $2.60 -0.41%
Canola Jul 12 $621.80, down $2.60 -0.42%
Canola Nov 12 $577.20, down $1.80 -0.31%
Canola Jan 13 $581.40, down $1.50 -0.26%
The previous trading day’s best basis in the par region rose to +$19.43 over the July contract, said ICE Futures Canada.
The 14-day relative strength index was 55.
Western Barley May 12 $242.00, unchanged
Western Barley Jul 12 $237.00, unchanged
Milling Wheat Oct 12 $248.00, unchanged
Milling Wheat Dec 12 $253.00, unchanged
Milling Wheat Mar 13 $262.00, unchanged
Durum Wheat Oct 12 $276.10, unchanged
Durum Wheat Dec 12 $280.60, unchanged
Durum Wheat Mar 13 $287.20, unchanged
Barley Oct 12 $184.00, unchanged
Barley Dec 12 $187.00, unchanged
Barley Mar 13 $188.50, unchanged
Chicago (per bushel)
Soybeans May 12 $14.75, up 6.25 cents +0.43%
Soybeans Jul 12 $14.7825, up 4.75 +0.32%
Soybeans Nov 12 $13.6675, down 1.0 -0.07%
Corn May 12 $6.6225, up 11.5 +1.77%
Corn Jul 12 $6.2025, up 5.75 0.94%
Corn Dec 12 $5.2425, down 5.25 -0.99%
Oats May 12 $3.315, down 4.5 -1.34%
Oats Jul 12 $3.40, down 4.5 -1.31%
Oats Dec 12 $3.47, down 6.0 -1.70%
Minneapolis (per bushel)
Spring Wheat May 12 $7.40, down 3.0 cents -0.40%
Spring Wheat Jul 12 $7.44, down 1.5 -0.20%
Spring Wheat Sep 12 $7.45, down 1.25 $-0.17%
Spring Wheat Dec 12 $7.515, up 0.5 +0.07%
The nearby New York light sweet crude contract plunged $4.05 to $98.49 US, falling below $100 for the first time since February.
Prices for international benchmark Brent crude have tumbled $15 from their 2012 high of $128.40 a barrel, struck on March 1.
The Canadian dollar noon rate was $1.0044 US, down from $1.0134 the day before.
The U.S. dollar at noon was 99.56 Cdn.
The Toronto Stock Exchange S&P/TSX composite index fell 143.67 points, or 1.20 percent, to 11,871.23.
The Dow Jones fell 171.27 points, or 1.30 percent to 13,035.32.
The S&P 500 dropped 22.59 points, or 1.62 percent, to 1,368.98.
The Nasdaq fell 67.78 points, or 2.24 percent, to 2,956.52.
For the week, the TSX composite fell 3.2 percent, the Dow was down 1.4 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 2.4 percent and the Nasdaq fell 3.7 percent.
