ICE Coffee Futures Settle Lower by FC Stone

Arabica Coffee Futures for March delivery settled 150 points lower at 117.50 cents per pound, after reaching a low of 116.80 cents. The March delivery contract opened 75 points lower, and oscillated sideways until 7:45 am EST, where a wave of speculative selling dropped the market to levels not seen since November 19 th . The marker recovered, yet consolidated lower for the rest of the session. Volume was modest with 15,656 lots traded, including 2,401 switches. The market was pressured by the weak Brazilian currency, which traded at BRL4.012 at 3:30 pm EST,  due  to  low expectations for the new Finance Minister. In addition, the USDA increased their figure for ending global inventories by 9 million bags to a total of 42.5 million bags, adding bearish pressure. The market is preparing for the holidayscoming up, and will close at 1:05 pm EST on Thursday, December 24 th , and will be closed on December 25 th .