Here's an interesting story, which speaks volumes about the psychological dynamic of the markets. On Friday the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) will report on end-of-season inventories, often called 'ending stocks.' Traders are getting word the report may show inventories are lower-than-usual. Against that backdrop, as a trader you certainly don't want to take a short position. So what to do? You buy, of course.

Monday's buying drove corn prices to a record high of $7.6025 per bushel, up 24.25 cents, as reported in the Wall Street Journal. Country Hedging, a brokerage firm, said: "Federal forecasters could drop the projection to less than 500 million bushels from last month's 675 million. This is a 15 year low."

• OPEC production fell 411,000 barrels per day to 29,343 million bpd.
• Libya's production fell 343,000 barrels per day, from 1,396,000 bpd.
• Nigeria fell 107,000 barrels per day due to Royal Dutch (RDS) Oil maintenance.

Slowly, an assessment of the damage to chip plants in Japan is emerging. This story tells about just one such plant. It sheds light on what we can expect in the way of future shipments.

The company is Renesas Electronics (RNECY). It is is important because it supplies the automotive industry with car navigation chips. In Japan, it provides 41% of the chips used by Japanese automakers,

• WTI crude was up $3.67 per barrel to $101.67. Brent crude rose $2.10 per barrel to $110.62.
• In the grain market, June wheat futures rose 48-2 cents per bushel to $7.10 per bushel.
• Corn futures were up the 30 cent limit to $6.46 per bushel.

The rebuilding of Japan will require large amounts of basic materials. One such material is cement. Cement is used in virtually every type of large building or factory.

It might be helpful to look at some cement stocks. Here are just a few, along with their recent share prices:

• Lafarge Coppee (LFRGY): $14.00. One of the world's largest cement and gypsum manufacturers.

Every major crisis has its winners and losers. With the Japanese crisis, most prominent may be the uranium stocks. As you might guess they are getting hammered. The presumption is that governments will be reluctant to approve nuclear projects in the wake of Japan's nuclear meltdown.

Here are just a few companies and recent stock prices:

• Denison Mines (DNN): $2.55, down 74 cents. Denison is a worldwide mining and exploration company. It has two uranium waste recycling plants in the U.S.

Watch the tape. Ignore the chatter. Those two are old truisms. The U.S. treasury market held firm Monday, with the 10-year June futures contract closing at 120-06, up 16 ticks.

There was some chatter from naysayers that China or Japan, the biggest foreign holders of U.S. debt, might decide to sell. That piece of news can be discarded. Why would they sell and take huge losses?

Stocks markets, however, across the globe were down, prompting a scramble for safety. Which safety? Why, the U.S. treasury market.

Most of us did not expect a sharp turnaround on the employment front in February. For the better part of two years, we've had painfully slow growth in employment. Then, in February, with many people snowed in for most of the time, things changed dramatically: Nonfarm payrolls increased by a whopping 192,000 and the unemployment rate dropped to 8.9%, as reported in Reuters.

The numbers were impressive. Private sector jobs increased to 222,000, up from 68,000 in January. Private service sector jobs increased to 152,000 from 33,000 in January. Government employment fell by 30,000. The average work week was steady. Hourly earnings rose one penny.

The first Chinese hybrid car, the F3DM, will hit U.S. showrooms next year from BYD Co. Ltd. (BYD). BYD, which stands for Build Your Dream, sold 240,000 F3DMs last year and Warren Buffet likes the company so much that Berkshire Hathaway invested $230 million in BYD in 2008. In fact, the latest BYD model will be on display at Berkshire's big meeting in May, as reported in New York Times.

BYD is a diversified energy company. In addition to its hybrid models Its products include solar panels, solar shaded parking systems, home energy storage systems and charging equipment and LED lighting. BYD plans to open showrooms in the Los Angeles area.

Oil is the life blood of the world economy. The turmoil in Libya and throughout the Middle East is threatening the stability of the entire world. "Oil prices were in the danger zone and could rise further, if turmoil continued in the Middle East," Fatih Birol of the International Energy Agency said, according to Reuters. "Oil prices are a serious risk for the global economic recovery."

As of 8:30 EDT, Brent crude is trading at $106.66 per barrel, up 92 cents. West Texas Intermediate crude jumped $6.29 per barrel to $96.00. Keep in mind that while U.S. markets were closed Monday, oil traded higher across other world markets.