CBOT Closing Comments

Corn

Corn futures settled lower this session. Bearish pressure mainly came from rainfall weather news in Argentina. This morning the USDA FAS released its weekly export sales report for the week ending January 22. Net export sales of US corn was 1.1 million metric tons, a new marketing-year high. This was an increase of 2% from the previous week. This news item provided strong bullish support which helped to limit corn futures' losses. A higher US dollar index during corn trading and a lower close in crude oil supplemented bearish pressure to corn futures. A lower close in soy and wheat gave spillover pressure to corn as well. March Corn settled at $3.81 3/4, down 2 3/4 cents

Soybeans

March soy complex closed lower on the day. Weather news from Argentina regarding recent rainfall and expected future rains this weekend, eased some concerns over soy crops there. This news item gave bearish pressure to the entire soy complex because Argentina is a leading global exporter of soybeans, soy meal, and soy oil. This morning the USDA FAS reported that US soybean net export sales for the week ending January 22 was 526,128 MT, a decrease of 60%. Net soy meal for the same week was 201,710 MT, a decrease of 4%. US soy oil net export sales for the same week was 21,506 MT, a marketing year high and an increase of 65%. Overall these news items gave bearish pressure to soy futures. The bullish news of soy oil provided some limits to soy oil futures. Also this morning the US Census released its monthly soy crush data. It stated that US processors crushed 141.4 Mbu of soybeans for the month of December. This figure fell on the higher end of analyst estimates. US soy meal and soy oil ending stocks for December fell below the analyst?s estimated ranges. Overall the US Census report provided mildly bullish support to soy futures, limiting some losses. A higher US dollar index during soy trading and a lower close in crude oil gave additional bearish pressure to soy. March Soybean closed at $9.70 1/2, down 12 cents; March Soy meal closed at $308.70, down $2.80; March Soy oil closed at $32.37, down 54 cents.

Wheat

March wheat futures in the three major grain exchanges finished lower moving in today's session. USDA FAS this morning reported 23,493 MT of US corn net export sales for the week ending January 22, a decrease of 94% from the previous week. This was a marketing year low, a vast contrast to the previous number of 410,253 MT, was largely due to a recent cancellation by Nigeria of 276,000 MT. Bearish pressure to wheat came from the disappointing USDA news on top of spillover pressure from soy. Concerns over continued dry weather conditions in the Oklahoma and Texas HRW crop areas gave bullish support to wheat futures, limiting some losses. March CBOT wheat finished at $5.78, down 17 1/4 cents.