At the close:
The March futures corn contract finished 10 cents higher at $7.19. The March soybean futures contract closed 16 cents higher at $14.74. March wheat futures closed 3 cents higher at $7.07 per bushel. The March soyoil futures contract settled $0.45 lower at $48.82. The March soymeal futures are trading $8.10 per short ton higher at $437.40.
In the outside markets, the NYMEX crude oil is $1.04 per barrel lower, the dollar is higher and the Dow Jones Industrials are 27 points higher.
Jeff Coleman, The Trean Group, says beans are well supported by demand. But, China may be in the market for U.S. corn too.
"The grain trade was active today with soybeans getting it started right on the opening. Better than expected bean exports set the tone for the floor as beans climbed higher for the third straight day. Also, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange cut their soybean harvest forecast to 48.5 million tons citing worse than expected drought damage. Beans have rebounded nicely after touching the low (1425) of the one hundred day moving average early in the week. China reportedly also bought six U.S. cargoes of corn for September delivery as well so corn futures were strong throughout the day. 13,000 contracts of corn futures traded near the close as corn dropped suddenly to the $7.00 level. It seemed as if the market didn’t want to let may corn go below $7.00 and buy orders came in driving corn a nickel higher rather quickly. A real whipsaw for sure. Wheat seemed as if it were being held up by beans and corn but gave back its gains late in the day. Now traders are watching the May wheat/corn spread which has now narrowed to ten cents (wheat over). Keep an eye on that as well as the K.C./Chicago wheat spread which is trading around 40 cents (K.C. over). Happy end of February everyone," he says.
Mike
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At mid-session:
The March futures corn contract is trading 8 cents higher at $7.17. The March soybean futures contract is trading 22 cents higher at $14.80. March wheat futures are trading 5 cents higher at $7.09 per bushel. The March soyoil futures contract is trading $0.14 higher at $49.13. The March soymeal futures are trading $8.10 per short ton higher at $437.40.
In the outside markets, the NYMEX crude oil is $0.24per barrel lower, the dollar is higher and the Dow Jones Industrials are 18 points higher.
Mike
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At the open:
The March futures corn contract opened 7 cents higher at $7.16. The March soybean futures contract opened 18 cents higher at $14.76. March wheat futures opened 9 cents higher at $7.13 per bushel. The March soyoil futures contract opened $0.23 higher at $49.50. The March soymeal futures are trading $6.10 per short ton higher at $435.40.
In the outside markets, the NYMEX crude oil is $0.15per barrel higher, the dollar is higher and the Dow Jones Industrials are 7points lower.
Mike
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At 8:00am:
--USDA announces that China bought 123,000 tons of U.S. soybeans for 2013-14 delivery.
--Bangladesh buys 50,000 tons of wheat.
Also,Jeff Coleman, Trean Group analyst and CME Group pit trader, is weighing in this morning with this look ahead. In his own words:
"The grains were once again quiet in overnight trading as soybeans and wheat each rising by 5 cents while corn remained basically unchanged. It seems that everyone is stuck watching the stock market and waiting for our government to act on the impending sequestration scheduled to hit March 1st GDP and jobless claims are both released at 8:30 AM ET today. Stock futures remained strong overnight after yesterday’s big rally, probably in anticipation of favorable morning numbers. It seems that the commodities markets will take a back seat to the equities in the near future as the world wonders what Washington will ultimately do to right our economy. The turmoil in Europe continues to make news with Italy now front and center of the euro zone crisis."
Mike
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At 7:30am:
USDA releases bullish Weekly Export Sales Report Thursday:
Corn= 512,600 mt vs. the trade's expectations of between 300,000-475,000 metric tons,.
Soybeans= 1.171 mmt vs. the trade's expectations of between 525,000-925,000 metric tons
Wheat= 524,900 mt vs. the trade's expectations of between 550,000-725,000 metric tons.
Mike
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At 6:45am:
Early calls: Corn is seen 4-5 cents higher, soybeans 5-7 cents higher, and wheat 7-9 cents higher.
Trackers:
Overnight grain, soybean markets=Trading higher.
Crude Oil=$0.10per barrel lower.
Dollar=Higher.
Wall Street=Seen opening higher, with carryover momentum from Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments that interest rates will stay low until 2016. Also, today's GDP report has the attention of investors.
World=Asia/Pacific stocks were higher and Europe's stocks were higher.
More in a minute,
Mike
