USDA's 2021 Ag Outlook Forum kicks off two days of talks at 6 a.m. CST Thursday with 2021 planting estimates expected early. There is no weekly export sales report until Friday morning, but U.S. jobless claims, U.S. new housing starts for January and an update of the U.S. Drought Monitor will be out at 7:30 a.m. CST. The U.S. Energy Department will have natural gas inventories at 9:30 a.m., followed by other weekly energy inventories at 10:00 a.m., including ethanol.
Weather
Thursday will be dry with milder temperatures in the Plains and most of the Midwest. Rain, ice and snow are in store from the eastern Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic coast. Portions of southern Texas will also have mixed precipitation and continued very cold conditions for the region.