Early Call On Chicago

The overnights closed mostly firmer but off session highs, with beans up 6-8c, wheat mostly 4-5c higher and corn mixed mostly a cent or so up.

Crude is supportive at USD76.80 and the dollar remains weak.

Fresh "investment" money continues to flood into the market, with only a passing regard for the fundamentals.

Corn and beans hit fresh highs overnight, with corn touching levels not seen since 2008.

Beans still look the most likely of being able to hold at these levels, with wheat looking the least likely, and corn hovering somewhere in the middle.

Given that Dec corn closed 6 1/4c off the overnight session highs at just 3/4c higher, you could easily make out a case that this was a disappointing "bouncing on the ceiling" display.

Tonight we will get the USDA's latest missive on harvest progress for corn and beans, plus winter wheat plantings.

Thursday brings export sales and the quarterly stocks reports, and at the end of next week we have the October production numbers. Ninety nine percent of the trade is adamant that corn yields will be significantly lower than the USDA's latest estimate. That they may be, but also we will have two more week's worth of export sales under our belts by then too. The USDA may find themselves lowering the demand side of the coin too.

Meanwhile spec longs in the grains sector are thought to be now be running even higher than the 2008 boom.

The USDA today announced 108,712 MT of corn sold by private exporters to Japan.

Early calls for this afternoon's CBOT session: corn flat to up 2c, wheat up 4-6c, beans up 6-8c.