Grains are higher:

Sept Corn + 14 1/2 cents/bu (6.08)

Aug Soybeans +23 1/2 cents/bu (14.91 3/4)

Sept Chi Wheat + 17 1/2 cents/bu (8.31 3/4)

Cdn $ +0.00355 (77.23 cents)

WTI Crude Oil -0.42/barrel (95.42)

The EIA Report was released this morning and showed that commercial crude oil stocks increased 3.3 million barrels to 427.1. Ethanol stocks also increased 0.1 million barrels to 23.6. Ethanol production did however decrease 39 thousand barrels per day to 1,005 thousand barrels. The production of ethanol utilized an estimated 98.8 million bushels of corn in the week ending July 8, down from 102.7 million the previous week, and down from 103.0 million bushels the previous year. Estimated marketing year to date corn use for ethanol totals 4.557 billion bushels, up 257 million or 6% from the previous year's pace, but 45 million bushels short of the seasonal pace needed to hit USDA's target for the year that ends August 31.

Today, the bank of Canada hiked interest rates by more than expected. The overnight interest rate was increased an entire percentage point to 2.5% as an attempt to combat higher than-expected inflation. This is the biggest rate increase since August 1998. In May, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) reached 7.7 per cent, the highest yearly increase in almost 40 years. The Bank says more than 50 per cent of price categories have risen by 5 per cent. The bank projects inflation will continue and peak at around 8 per cent over the next few months. Inflation is expected to ease starting in late 2022, going to 3 per cent by the end of 2023 and back to target by the end of 2024.

Similarly, it was noted that U.S. inflation reached a whopping 9.1% in June which is the highest rate in 41 years. Last month’s 8.6% inflation rate caused the markets to tank, but today, commodities have shifted to the green. Stocks were initially lower, but have rallied on the idea that declining energy prices may result in lower inflation numbers for July. This inflation news also caused the Euro to fall below the U.S. dollar parity for the first time since December 2002, before pulling back above par.