eCBOT Close, Early Call

The overnight markets closed mixed with beans down 4-6 cents, corn 1-2 easier and wheat mixed a cent or so either side of unchanged.

Last night's data from the USDA shows that this season's corn & soybean harvest is easily the latest in at least the last thirty years.

That's bullish for winter wheat, particularly SRW wheat in states like Illinois and Ohio where huge areas of soybeans are still to be harvested before any attempt at getting wheat into the ground can be made.

Three storms over the next two weeks will again put harvest in a holding pattern for many Corn Belt, Plains and Delta farmers, say QT Weather.

Crude oil briefly popped it's head up above the USD80/barrel mark, setting a new high for the year. A weak dollar is also supportive for grains.

Indian wheat futures hit limit up after the governments much-awaited release of state-owned stock tender prices were released, pegging levels significantly higher than millers had hoped.

Algeria bought 300,000 MT of optional origin wheat overnight, and Japan is tendering for 133,000 MT of US/Canadian and Australian wheat. As usual the majority will be of US origin.

European and Asian stocks rose ahead of further expected gains on Wall Street. Apple and Texas Instruments posted decent Q3 profits last night, whilst Caterpillar, DuPont and Pfizer are all making bullish noises today.

Early calls for this afternoon's CBOT session: corn called 1 to 2 lower; soybeans called 3 to 5 lower; wheat called mixed.