From the floor January 10

[marketeye]

At the close:

The March corn futures settled 12 cents higher at $6.07. The March soybean contract closed 16 1/2 cents higher at $13.81 1/2. The March wheat futures settled 6 3/4 cents lower at $7.67 1/4. The March soybean meal futures ended $7.90 higher per short ton at $370.60. The March soyoil futures closed $0.31 higher at $57.13.

In the outside markets, the NYMEX crude oil is $1.08 per barrel higher, the dollar is lower, and the Dow Jones Industrials are down 52 points.

The funds didn't sell off as many contracts as first thought. One trader says, "I'm not buying this market overnight, unless it falls sharply."

Funds bought a net 12-14,000 corn contracts Monday. For soybeans, the funds bought a net 5,000 contracts. On the wheat market, funds sold an estimated 3,700 contracts, pushing those prices down. Otherwise, the market seems to be prepared for the drip, drip, drip affect from funds selling 2-3,000 corn/soybean contracts a day, one trader says. But, on this day, corn and soy futures were bought not sold. 

Meanwhile, one trader says that after 11am, tomorrow, very little trading could be happening. Most traders will be positioned for Wednesday's WASDE Report by 12-noon tomorrow.

Mike

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At 12-Noon:

The grain markets remain strong. One trader says watch out for today's close. He says, "If the index funds rebalance the same today, as they did Friday, this market can sustain its rally.
 On Friday, the index funds sold off just 2,500 corn contracts, in the pit, while the traders expected between 7,000-10,000. Even more contracts were expected to be sold off electronically. The market just didn't see it.
"If that's the case, we are going to stay mildly strong. If that number grows today, and gets bigger on rebalancing, we are going to break real quick."
Secondary, Argentina's corn weather is headed back up to 100-degrees with no rain for 7-days, according to recent forecasts.
"Our people in Argentina say 25% of the corn crop is already lost. So, we are not going to break too far."

Mike

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At mid-session:

The March corn futures are 17 1/2 cents higher at $6.12 1/2. The March soybean contract is 25 cents higher at $13.90 1/2. The March wheat futures are 7 cents higher at $7.81. The March soybean meal futures opened $10.10 higher per short ton at $373.00. The March soyoil futures are $0.73 higher at $57.55.

In the outside markets, the NYMEX crude oil is $0.95 per barrel higher, the dollar is lower, and the Dow Jones Industrials are down 48 points.

Mike

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At 10:30am:

Nice rally to start the week. Corn and beans are up 15¢, wheat up 5. The outside markets are favorable. Plus, dry Argentine weather and positioning ahead of Wednesday's USDA WASDE report is underpinnng this market.

Mike

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At the open:

The March corn futures are 5 1/2 cents higher at $6.00 1/2. The March soybean contract opened 7 1/4 cents higher at $13.72 1/4. The March wheat futures opened 2 3/4 cents higher at $8.49. The March soybean meal futures opened $3.40 higher per short ton at $366.107. The March soyoil futures opened $0.33 higher at $57.15.

In the outside markets, the NYMEX crude oil is $1.39 per barrel higher, the dollar is lower, and the Dow Jones Industrials are down 65 points.

Mike

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At 6:50am:

No shortage of fundamentals:

--7-day Argentina forecast is dry and calling for above normal temperatures.

--More rain is hitting an already-flooded Australia.

--China's wheat drought continues.

--Over the weekend, Egypt bought U.S. and Aussie wheat.

--U.S. rice acres seen dropping, with shift to corn, soybeans in 2011.

--China's December soybean imports were 5.43 mill. metric tons, up 14% on year.

--WASDE Report Wednesday expected to be friendly-to-bullish.

--Commodity Indexes will rebalance their portfolios this week. A sell-off of $2-3 Billion is seen for the ag commodities, with wheat seeing most of it. The weight adjustment is expected to start late in the week.

Mike

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At 6:30am:

Early calls: Corn 4-6 cents higher, soybeans 4-6 cents higher, and wheat 3-5 cents higher.

Trackers:

Overnight grain markets=Trading higher.

Crude Oil=$0.77 higher.

Dollar=Higher.

Wall Street=Seen opening lower ahead of Alcoa Inc. fourth quarter earnings report, to be released tonight. Plus, Portugal may need a bailout. Nerves are running high in Europe, this morning.

World Markets=Lower.

More in a minute,

Mike

[eurofarmer1755642]

Hi

Huge areas of eastern EU under water by melting snow

Soutern Germany too.

Wheat under stress will be the impact..

This will perhaps be noticed by traders in Paris and London

bw

[p-oed Farmer]

Hey Mike..... Is there anything to the rumors about China buying US corn?...... p-oed

[marketeye]

p-oed Farmer;

Here's what I'm hearing. One firm is saying it's possible next week. Because there is a Chinese delegation coming to the U.S. next week, it's possible they could place some purchases. Though it's not economical sound, it's normal for the Chinese to buy something, while they are in the states.

Meanwhile, Isreal has tendered for U.S. corn Monday, about 20,000 metric tons.

Mike