What Were Markets Doing Early This Last Manic Tuesday?

What Were Markets Doing Early This Last Manic Tuesday? Darin Newsom Tue, September 8, 2026 at 12:35 PM GMT+2 5 min read CL=F The US president's Middle East War could now spread to Canada if Iran follows through on its latest threats. As would be expected, the Energies sector jumped and ran coming out of the gate this week.

Chevron Is Expanding Operations in Venezuela. How to Play CVX Stock Now. Howmet Aerospace Stock Is Sliding on SpaceX Fears.

Here's Why That Could Be a Buying Opportunity. This Energy Stock Is Trading at New All-Time Highs, But Barchart's Technical Analysis Expert Warns It May Be Running Out of Gas Markets move fast. Keep up by reading our FREE midday Barchart Brief newsletter for exclusive charts, analysis, and headlines.

The Grains sector was mixed, with Corn extending its fund-driven rally Monday night through early Tuesday morning. Morning Summary: By my count, the weekend just past is the last US 3-day holiday weekend of 2026 meaning this should be the last Manic Tuesday of the year. That being said, I'm still an advocate for year-round 4-day work weeks and extending trading days by an hour each day.

But that's a conversation for another time. As for markets, thoughts of Turnaround activity will have to be pushed back until Watson Wednesday, making tomorrow that much more interesting. The headlines are what we would expect with the US president's Middle East War continuing to expand, the latest reading, "Iran foreign ministry takes aim at Canada for support of U.

S. actions in Strait of Hormuz". I feel bad for Canada.

It seems no matter what its frenemy south of the border does it feels the backlash. As for markets, again, there are few surprises with WTI crude oil (CLV26) up $3. 10 (3.

4%) while Brent crude (QAX26) is sitting $2. 80 (2. 9%) higher to start the day.

Diesel fuel (HOV26) is up about 13. 0 cents (2. 8%) pre-dawn.

Meanwhile, gold (GCZ26) is down $40 (0. 9%) while silver (SIZ26) gave back its initial overnight gain and was sitting 26. 0 cents (0.

4%) in the red. Keep in mind we are a week out from the next FOMC meeting as well. Corn: The corn market opened strong and stayed strong overnight.

Despite last Friday's bearish technical indicators, the December issue (ZCZ26) started 2. 5 cents in the green before extending its overnight rally to as much as 6. 75 cents on trade volume of nearly 40,000 contracts and was sitting 3.

75 cents higher at this writing. For now, this looks to be continued buying from Watson as we head into the last day of the Tuesday-to-Tuesday positioning week. Last Friday's Commitments of Traders report (legacy, futures only) showed funds held a net-long futures position of 536,740 contracts as of Tuesday, September 1, an increase of 95,830 contracts.

This was the largest net-long futures position since April 13, 2021 with the largest long futures position (665,300 contracts) since June 19, 2018. All while the 2026 harvest gets rolling over the coming weeks. Fundamentally the market grew less bullish last week as the Dec-March spread covered a straight-up neutral 50% calculated full commercial carry at last Friday's close, as compared to the previous week's settlement covering 47%.

The March-May was 34% versus 26%. As for national average basis, Friday's calculation came in at 44. 5 cents under December futures as compared to the previous 10-year low weekly close for the first week of September at 45.

25 cents under December. Story Continues Soybeans: Given the continued rally in the Energies sector, diesel fuel (distillates) in particular, what do you think happened in the oilseed sub-sector overnight? Logic would tell us markets were higher, but in this day and age of artificial intelligence, logic doesn't play much of a role.

All four markets did go green at some point to start the week, though soybean meal and soybeans had slipped into the red as of this writing. Canola and soybean oil were still showing gains, both up about 0. 7% pre-dawn.

Of the four markets, the one that stands out to me as the latest noncommercial positioning week moves into its final day is soybean meal. Last Friday's Commitments of Traders report showed funds held a net-long futures position of 177,860 contracts, an increase of 56,890 contracts from the previous week. This was a new record large net-long futures position based on a new record large long futures position of 216,050 contracts and the smallest short futures position since November 2023.

Given the meal market's forward curve continues to show a carry (contango for those New York traders), soybean meal looks primed for a round of fund long liquidation. Nov26 soybeans (ZSX26) was down 1. 0 cent at this writing on trade volume of 35,000 contracts.

Wheat: And then there's the wheat sub-sector. After being pummeled last week, all three markets were showing double-digit gains early Tuesday morning. Did the world come into the week desperately needing US wheat supplies?

Probably not, though both winter markets were hinting at commercial support to start the week. Did Vlad the Invader make another nuclear comment? Not that I've seen in the comics section of the newspaper.

(Yes, I know, that comment shows my age. ) After closing 50. 0 cents lower last week, the December SRW issue (ZWZ26) added as much as 29.

0 cents overnight and was up 17. 0 cents at this writing on solid trade volume of 30,000 contracts. What stood out to me with SRW is funds finally moved to a net-long futures position of 24,700 contracts last Tuesday, a switch of 31,480 contracts from the previous week.

This put Watson long all three wheat markets just before the sub-sector collapsed. At last Friday's close, Dec SRW was down 48. 5 cents for the Tuesday-to-Tuesday positioning week.

Over in HRW, December was up 20. 0 cents after rallying as much as 29. 5 cents.

The new-crop July issue jumped as much as 24. 25 cents and was sitting 17. 25 cents in the green pre-dawn.

On the date of publication, Darin Newsom did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.