Soybeans off to the races again this morning as July and November futures trade above yesterday’s highs. Corn and wheat trying to follow beans but are not having much luck so far. The dollar up gain today and currently up over 340 with crude oil screaming $2.00 higher. The trade expects the corn crop to be over 60% planted on Monday’s update. Weekly export sales were 30.3 million corn, 30.0 million soybeans and 6.6 million wheat for old crop on all commodities. Another strong export number for old soybeans, but the old crop corn number was less than expected by the trade. After briefly trading above yesterday’s highs, Soybeans have sold off and are now slightly lower at 9:15am. We saw this type of trade on beans yesterday, but they did bounce back to close slightly higher. Stay tuned! Pressure on grains today as the dollar now trading up over 550 at 10:50am. Crude oil still higher but now a dollar off the high of the day.

I commented yesterday that the market displayed signs of a move to a lower trade. However, the strength early this morning started to make me think that I might want to re-evaluate my thoughts. Apparently, the funds wanted one last push higher before turning sellers. So, here we are at 11:30am and soybeans are leading us lower with double digit losses. July beans currently down $.16 as profit taking has set in and we are trading below yesterday’s lows on beans, corn and wheat. Today turned out to be a bad day for soybeans. July soybeans posted an outside trading day with a sharply lower close. July beans closed down $.2175 at $10.1225. Somebody said “Show me the Money” but unfortunately we saw it leaving the bean market instead of supporting higher trade. To compound matters cash basis levels for soybeans were 6-7 cents weaker as well. July corn closed down $.03 at $3.7375 with December down $.035 at $3.815. July wheat closed down $.08 at $4.6325. This wheat market is more dead than my dog and he died almost two years ago. Market looking for the planting progress update on Monday and the USDA report next Tuesday. See you again tomorrow.

We are back trading after the break with corn down 1-2 cents, soybeans down 4-5 and wheat up 1-2 cents. To this point, we are not recovering from yesterday’s sharp declines. The dollar is up about 200 again this morning which adds some pressure to prices. Crude oil bouncing back and up about $.80 and near $44.50. With a USDA Supply and Demand Report next Tuesday, the market may need a break to analyze the crop damage in South America versus the large new crop projected ending stocks that we should see on the report. Corn planting remains well above our average pace and we should see a decent increase on soybean planting on Monday’s update. On the economic front the talk of a slowdown of the Chinese economy is back in the news. Sounds like our weather warms up starting tomorrow and we can hopefully get back to planting. The close today may give us a clue for price direction in the weeks ahead.

Cash basis levels at the river are lower this morning. Nearby corn basis is $.03 weaker with nearby soybean basis $.02 to $.04 weaker. Ethanol production was down .43% versus last week. Second week in a row of lower production. Corn ground for ethanol estimated at 96.92 million bushel compared to the 98.446 million needed on a weekly basis to meet the USDA projection of 5.25 billion bushel. At 11am, soybeans bouncing back and have just about recovered all of yesterday’s losses. Corn and wheat remain quiet. USDA announced this morning the sale of 107,500 tonnes of U.S. corn to Japan for this marketing year. So far corn not showing much excitement today. Soybeans did manage to trade above Monday’s close and were up $.1575 at one time but closed up only $.04 at $10.34 on the July futures. July corn finished down $.03 at $3.7675 and is now only $.155 higher than our close on this date last year. July soybeans remain strong and are currently $.5775 higher than last year. The trade showed signs today that we may now move to a choppy trade with a lower bias. Time will tell.

At the break this morning, corn slightly lower with wheat unchanged and soybeans up 5-6 cents. Fund money continues to flow into the grain trade as the period of our “Unknown” is still present. Reports from Argentina say their soybean crop has been reduced by about 9mmt due to the excessive rain. Also, the trade struggling with the size of the corn crop in Brazil. Some feel the second crop corn acres could be higher than estimated, but there has been yield losses due to the very dry weather. The dollar weaker again today and now trading to levels not seen since early 2015. Crude oil down about $.50 but still above $44.00 a barrel. The USDA reported the corn crop at 45% planted versus an average pace of 30%. The trade still feels like the USDA is lower than the actual planting pace but those are the numbers we have to work with for now. Soybeans reported at 8% planted versus an average of 6%. May soybeans will look to challenge the $10.50 level today with May corn working to post a close above $3.92.

As of 10:30am, the markets have turned lower across the board with soybeans leading us down. May beans down 8-10 cents with corn down 10-11 and wheat down 15-16 cents. Cash basis levels have weakened 6-8 cents on nearby soybean bids. The dollar has bounced off the recent lows and currently trading over 200 higher. The stock market currently down about 200 points with crude oil down over a dollar. We finished the session with double digit losses across the board. Soybeans lead us lower today after the July futures traded to a 16 month high. Profit taking took over after the dollar bounced back, equities turned lower and the stock market posted double digit losses. Corn and wheat posted outside lower closes today with soybeans falling just a few cents away from trading below yesterday’s low. July corn closed down $.12 at $3.7825 with July wheat down $.17 at $4.7075. July beans finished down $.1375 at $10.30. We have experienced this before over the past two weeks on soybeans, but they have managed to bounce back and trade even higher after a break. Tomorrow could be interesting as we wait to see if this is just a one day break or if we have we reversed the trend.

By Dennis Wieseman

We are higher across the board this morning with corn leading the way. May corn has moved to a new high for 2016 as we have traded above yesterday’s high. Corn still up on the solid export numbers from yesterday and a lower dollar again this morning. Crude oil continues the upward move and has now traded above $46.50. As we head to the break, corn is up 3-5 cents, soybeans up 4-5 and wheat up 2-3 cents. Corn planting expected to be 40% or more complete on Monday’s update with planters running around our office yesterday. Will we hold gains on the close or will we back off for the weekend? Funds are now thought to be long corn and long about 180,000 on soybeans. No surprise here after the rally we had in late April. The gains have been over $.30 on corn and about $1.20 on soybeans. They are still calling for drier conditions in Argentina which should allow for harvest to resume, but the second crop corn in Brazil is still stressed by lack of significant rain.

Even though it was a Friday during planting season, we closed mostly higher across the board. Grains supported by the decline this weak on the U.S. dollar. Also, the USDA did announce the sale of over 100,000mt of old crop corn to Japan. May corn closed up $.0325 at $3.9025 with December up $.0075 at $3.9525. May soybeans up $.03 at $10.21 but November beans closed down $.0075 at $10.0775. The month of April provided some fireworks for grain prices, so we will see what happens now in May. Have a great weekend and try to stay dry.

I will be out of the office on Monday so I will see you back here next Tuesday!

Comments by Dennis Wieseman

Weekly corn export sales of 85 million bushel was a marketing year high and propelled corn to $3.9075 on the May futures. May finished up $.0625 at $3.87 and above the $3.85 high on last Thursday. Weekly soybean exports were slightly disappointing on soybeans at only 8.3 million bushel. However, the strength on corn today, the weaker dollar and more fund buying shot May beans to a new high for this move at $10.3675. Late session selling drove May beans to actually close down $.01 at $10.18 with November beans up only $.05 at $10.085 after reaching $10.19 today for the high. Argentina is slowly drying out but over half the soybean area is still labeled at wet to very wet. Talk in the trade expects the corn crop to be 40% or more planted on Monday’s update compared to an average pace of 30%.

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