Overnight markets mixed

Overnight trade in the eCBOT grains market is mixed Thursday morning with corn 1-2 cents easier, wheat around 3-4 cents firmer and soybeans up 2 cents to 3 cents lower.

Choppy trade seems the name of the game with position-squaring ahead of the long weekend in the US. The Chicago market will be closed on Sept. 1 for the Labor Day holiday.

The US dollar seems to have taken a breather after recent strong gains and with the threat from Hurricane Gustav supporting the crude oil market there probably isn't going to be much downside this side of the weekend.

It will be an interesting eCBOT session Tuesday morning when the markets reopen and have chance to react to the damage and supply disruptions, if any, that Gustav may have caused.

Medium term I fancy the markets to nudge lower as the harvest concludes in the UK and northern Europe and begins to get underway in the US.