CBOT Closing Comments

Soybeans

January soybean futures finished at USD10.42, down 4 cents; December soymeal futures finished at USD315.60, down USD1.50; December soy oil futures finished at 39.40 cents, down 31 points. Soybeans started the session sharply higher with a weak dollar and firmer crude and outside markets. Maybe this can be attributed to this weeks Thanksgiving, as the USDA reported soybean inspections for the previous week at 73.787 million bushels, well above trade estimates ranging 50 to 61.5 million bu. Demand for US beans is simply phenomenal at the moment, and although you might normally expect the market to put in seasonal lows around this time, this year could be different.

Corn

December corn futures settled at USD3.87 ¼, down 3 ¾ cents. A sharply lower US dollar and higher crude oil gave bullish outside market support to corn futures, but as with beans that ran out of steam later in the session. Corn inspected for export for the previous week was 25.562 million bushels, said the USDA, that fell below trade estimates ranging 28.5 to 33 million bu.

Wheat

December wheat futures closed at USD5.57 ¼, down 2 ½ cents. Everything from firmer gold to a weak dollar got wheat futures off to a flyer, surging to 20 cents higher in early trade. However a sell off in the other pits spilled over into wheat with futures closing in slightly negative territory at the end of the day. Large, non-commercial spec traders reduced their net short positions in CBOT wheat futures and options to a total of 24,872 contracts combined as of Nov. 17, down from 35,144 the previous week.