Floor Talk December 30

[marketeye]

At the close:

The March corn futures settled 6 1/4 cents lower at $4.06 1/2 per bushel.
March soybean futures finished 4 3/4 cents lower at $10.44.

March wheat futures finished 13 1/2 cents lower to $6.02. The March soybean meal futures closed $4.60 per short ton lower at $353.70. March soyoil futures closed $0.14 higher at $33.07.

In the outside markets, the crude oil market is $0.28 higher, the U.S. Dollar is higher and the Dow Jones Industrials are 52 cents lower.

Mike

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At mid-session:

The March corn futures are trading 4 cents lower at $4.08 per bushel.
March soybean futures are trading 2 1/2 cents higher at $10.51.

March wheat futures are trading 10 cents lower to $6.05. The March soybean meal futures are trading $0.20 per short ton lower at $358.10. March soyoil futures are trading $0.07 higher at $33.00.

In the outside markets, the crude oil market is $0.04 higher, the U.S. Dollar is lower and the Dow Jones Industrials are 51 cents lower.

Jason Ward, Director of Grains and Energy at Northstar Commodity, says soybeans are benefiting from unfavorable palm oil weather.
“The only thing we hear that is supportive is recent heavy rainfall hurting palm oil output in Malaysia, the biggest producer in the world other than Indonesia. We are hearing that production will fall 11% for the month of December,” Ward says.
Meanwhile, weather and crop prospects in South America continue to improve. “Our crop consultant in Brazil is raising his targets for the Brazilian soybean crop and said with continued good weather his targets can go even higher,” Ward says.
He adds, “Things have improved dramatically in Brazil, since the month of October planting (which was deemed to be the worst start in 20-30 years). But, since then, it has been nearly ideal.”
Right now, the charts are positive, the spec community owns soybeans and seem comfortable defending their positions, he says.
“But, in our view, we have a 40-day window to see crop production issues in South America or supply will overwhelm the soy complex to the downside. In our mind, a poorly planted crop is vulnerable all the way to harvest, we have seen it many times in the US where we started poorly, things improved and then we were hurt late because of that poor start, so by no means is the crop made in Brazil, but it has been steadily improving over the last 60-days,” Ward says.

Mike

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At the open:

The March corn futures are trading 2 3/4 cents lower at $4.10 per bushel.
March soybean futures are trading 1 cent higher at $10.50.

March wheat futures are trading 4 cents lower to $6.11. The March soybean meal futures are trading $0.20 per short ton lower at $358.10. January soyoil futures are trading unchanged at $32.93.

In the outside markets, the crude oil market is lower by $0.36, the U.S. Dollar is lower and the Dow Jones Industrials are 45 cents lower.

On Tuesday, the USDA announced that private exporters reported export sales of 157,500 metric tons of corn for delivery to Mexico during the 2014/2015 marketing year. 

The marketing year for corn began Sept. 1.

Mike

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At 7:30am:

Early calls: Corn is 1-2 cents lower, soybeans 1-2 cents higher and wheat 4-6 cents lower.

Trackers:
Overnight grain, soybean markets = Trading mostly lower.
Crude Oil = $0.18 lower per barrel.
Dollar = Lower
Wall Street =Lower as crude oil slides lower.

World Markets = Europe stocks were lower, Asia/Pacific stocks were lower.

More in a minute,

Mike