Buy The Rumour, Buy The Fact?

It used to be sell the fact, but that's another old trade adage out of the window this morning, with corn pushing onwards two year highs in overnight trade and beans, wheat and soyoil posting fresh 2010 highs.

The forecast big freeze (the rumour) over the weekend arrived as expected (the fact), with Saturday temperatures falling as low as 18-24F in Alberta, 23-28F in Saskatchewan and 25-32F in Manitoba, according to QT Weather.

The market chose to go up on both. Managed funds are adding to their already record corn options and futures long of 346,007 contracts as I type.

Temperatures in North Dakota fell as low as 23F, although the deep freeze failed to make it as far as South Dakota, as some had been predicting. "No additional crop killing frosts are anticipated over the next 7 days," say QT Weather.

In Canada, most pundits seem to be of the opinion that quality rather than quantity will take a hit, with many crops late reaching maturity due to delayed spring planting.