Nogger's Blog

12/06/12 -- Yesterday's Spanish bank bailout news buoyed the markets for all of a couple of hours before the realisation set in that all they were doing was saddling themselves with even more debt for a temporary quick fix that the next government in can attempt to sort out.

Crude oil soon reversed early gains to close lower, with NYMEX settling at it's lowest since October, and falling further since this morning.

If grains are going to rally from here then it looks like they may have to go it alone. That's not entirely out of the question, particularly for soybeans.

All eyes are now on the USDA, with a raft of data due out at 13.30 BST this afternoon. In what is quickly starting to resemble the Sky TV Premier League sponsorship deal where football matches now kick off at all times of the day & night, Friday's, Saturday lunchtime, tea-time, Sunday's, Monday's etc. The CME Group, in it's infinite wisdom, has now decided to open the daytime open outcry session early on days when a major USDA crop report is out.

That means that today's session will begin at 13.20 BST for the first time in history. That's twenty past seven in the morning if you are a floor trader over there, so let's hope that they've all set their alarms for nice & early.

The reason for this is that floor traders don't miss out because the electronic market is open for business the minute that the USDA report comes out, and that otherwise the open outcry lads would have to sit on their hands for two hours waiting for their market to open.

After that we will revert to the usual 15.30 BST opening times for the rest of the month.

Is this the start of the ultimate death of the open outcry session all together? I think it may be.