Wednesday is the first of February, the day the ground hog is expected to come out and raise the federal funds rate by another quarter-percent. The Federal Reserve will make the ceremony official at 1 p.m. CST. Before that, there will be several manufacturing indices reported from around the world and the U.S. will get its turn at 9 a.m. At 9:30 a.m., the U.S. Energy Department releases its weekly report of energy inventories, including ethanol production. South American weather and crop conditions continue to get a lot of trader attention.
Weather
A stalled front across the South and Southeast remains active on Wednesday with periods of showers from Texas and Oklahoma eastward. It remains cold enough on the northern end for a mix of freezing rain, sleet, and maybe some snow from Texas and Oklahoma into the Tennessee Valley. Temperatures farther north are still cold, but higher than yesterday for most areas.