eCBOT Close, Early Call

The overnights closed lower with beans down 2-3 cents, wheat 3-4 cents off and corn 4-5 cents easier.

The dollar and crude oil are both showing little change for once.

The NOPA December soybean crush was above expectations at 164.4 million bushels.

Soybean weekly export sales came in in line with expectations at 754,100 MT, with China once again the leading protagonist taking 528,100 MT of that.

Weekly corn sales were a bit disappointing at 327,300 MT as too were wheat sales (again) at 181,900 MT.

Actual export shipments for beans were strong at 1,623,100 MT, with almost a million of that going to China.

Japan booked 91,000 MT of wheat in its usual weekly tender today with 70,000 MT of that US origin. Jordan booked 100,000 MT of Black Sea origin wheat overnight. Bangladesh is also in the market for wheat.

South Korea bought 110,000 MT of either US or South American corn, plus 55,000 MT of South American origin soymeal.

US weekly unemployment benefit claims numbers were out this afternoon. The figures showed a 11,000 increase, a more modest rise of 3,000 was expected.

Any talk of a US recovery will also be tempered by the news that a record 2.8 million US households were threatened with foreclosure in 2009.

The ECB kept interest rates in the eurozone unchanged as was widely expected.

Early calls for this afternoon's CBOT session: corn called 3 to 5 lower; soybeans called 2 to 3 lower; wheat called 3 to 4 lower.