Early Call On Chicago
01/09/11 -- The overnight grains finished with wheat and beans around 10-12 cents lower and corn down 7-8 cents. Crude is a little weaker and the dollar slightly firmer, both negative for grains.
The USDA reported weekly wheat export sales of 369,200 MT, towards the low end of expectations for sales of 350 to 550 thousand MT. Corn sales were minus 320,900 MT for old crop and 957,900 MT for new crop giving a combined 637,000 MT versus forecasts of 400 to 650 thousand MT. Soybean sales came in at 593,800 MT of all new crop compared with the 350 to 600 thousand MT estimated.
In amongst a lot of corn switching was the sale of 116,000 MT to China switched from unknown.
It's the first of the month, but with a long weekend looming in the US it may be next week before we see any "new money" coming into the market. With the possibility of a wetter look to the weekend funds may decide that it would be prudent to regroup next week once the extent of weekend moisture is known.
That may give us some more long liquidation and profit-taking this afternoon.
FCStone are out later today with their slant on US corn and soybean production, followed by Informa tomorrow ahead of the USDA a week on Monday. Lower corn yields look like they are a given, but how much is already factored in?
Brazilian growers like the look of corn at these levels and are seen upping plantings accordingly.
Early calls for this afternoon's CBOT session: corn down 6-8 cents, wheat and beans down 8-10 cents.