The partial government shutdown has prompted the United States Department if Agriculture to delay release of the Crop Production Report and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate (WASDE) originally scheduled for next week.
“A lot of the traders and people who rely on this information are wondering if we’ll get a big batch of good news all of a sudden,” said Jerry Gulke, president of the Gulke Group.
“Now you have the government looking at weeks worth of data. I think that unknown out there has a lot of people spooked. Could we get along without the USDA reports?"
Among market factors analysts are watching closely now are the crops progress across South America and Chinese purchasing.