At the close:
The Dec. corn futures settled 23 1/4 cents lower at $7.01. The Nov. soybean contract closed 24 cents lower at $13.58 3/4. The Dec. wheat futures closed 8 1/2 cents lower at $6.96. The Dec. soymeal futures closed $9.40 per short ton lower at $354.00. The Dec. soyoil futures ended $0.55 lower at $56.55.
In the outside markets, the NYMEX crude oil is $0.44 per barrel higher, the dollar is lower and the Dow Jones Industrials are up 171 points.
One analyst says the lower closes were a result of a big spec selling day. The fundamental factors were the lack of freeze damage reported and the bad export sales for wheat and beans. Corn sales were great but the weather was king. I kind of thing we are getting to the overdone point for the short term. Markets could bounce back tomorrow even though we are getting into harvest in lots of areas now. We will see. At any rate, I don’t think rallies are worth all too much for the next few weeks unless we get some big demand news or something."
Mike
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At mid-session:
All markets are seeing double-digit losses.
Mike
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At the open:
The Dec. corn futures opened 4 1/2 cents lower at $7.19 3/4. The Nov. soybean contract opened 3 1/4 cents lower at $13.79 1/24. The Dec. wheat futures opened 5 1/2 cents lower at $6.99. The Dec. soymeal futures opened $3.90 per short ton lower at $359.50. The Dec. soyoil futures opened $0.10 higher at $57.20.
In the outside markets, the NYMEX crude oil is $0.85 per barrel higher, the dollar is lower and the Dow Jones Industrials are up 48 points.
Mike
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At 8:05am:
The word is the trade doesn't feel like the freezing temps were as cold as first thought. As a result, the 'early calls' are lower. However, strong Weekly Export Sales may provide some underpinning for corn.
Mike
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At 7:45am:
The USDA released bullish corn Weekly Export Sales Thursday.
Corn=1.17 million metric tons of sales reported vs. trade expectations of 550,000.
Soybeans=351,900 mt of sales last week vs. the trade's expectation of 500,000.
Wheat=413,500 estimated sales vs. the expectation of 450,000 mt.
Also:
--Japan announced Thursday it will buy 109, 356 mt of milling wheat.
--China announced it will keep import quotas for grain unchanged in 2012 from 2011.
Mike
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At 6:35am:
Early calls: Corn and soybeans 6-8 cents lower, and wheat seen 5-7 cents lower.
Trackers:
Overnight grain, soybean markets=Trading lower.
Crude Oil=$0.45 higher.
Dollar=Lower.
Wall Street=Seen trading higher. The Labor Dept. releases the Jobless Benefits Report.
World Markets=Higher. UBS announced that an unauthorized trade cost them $2 billion.
I know it was cold overnight, in the northern Corn Belt. How hard was the freeze? In fact, a Minnesota radio station is reporting the lowest temperature found overnight was 19-degrees (didn't catch the town, sorry). But, most temps were in the 30's, with some below. Overall, it's being called a widespread frost. This hour (6am) in Minneapolis it's 34-degrees.
More in a minute,
Mike
