The federal government is open again, at least until mid-February.  President Trump agreed to a short-term funding bill that contained no money for a border wall.  House and Senate negotiators will try to put together a border security package by the time funding runs out February 15.  Trump said if those talks failed, he would either shut down the government again or declare an emergency and begin building a border wall without Congressional authorization – a step that would almost certainly be litigated.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and other agencies re-opened Monday, and employees began clearing their work backlogs.  Initially, USDA officials were uncertain which government reports that were not issued during the shutdown will be published late, and which will never be published at all.  Markets will be interested in  Thursday’s scheduled Export Sales Report, having traded for weeks without important information about corn, wheat and soybean sales.

The monthly Chickens and Eggs report, which includes eggs in incubators and other market-sensitive data, was not published on January 22 as scheduled.  The monthly Egg Products report is due January 30.  The National Agricultural Statistics Service, which compiles both reports, has not stated how it will handle missed reports or those due within a few days of the government re-opening.