eCBOT Close, Early Call

The overnight grains closed mixed, but mostly a little higher with beans up around 6 cents, and wheat & corn mixed but generally 1-2 cents firmer.

Asian stocks closed higher, European stocks are up and Wall Street is expected to follow suit.

After a volatile last few days crude oil is also higher up 69 cents at $47.72/barrel. OPEC meet at the weekend to discuss further production cuts.

The dollar is weaker, which may also add a wee bit of support at the opening.

For beans and corn this week's reductions in US ending stocks and strong weekly export sales should help under-pin the market.

For wheat the outlook for largely dry and significantly warmer US temperatures in the week ahead may also provide a degree of support.

The war of words in Argentina is stepping up a gear or two. That situation looks like it will only get worse with the Argy farm leaders promising to be in Congress next week in support of opposition legislation eliminating export taxes.

It seems highly likely that we can expect more boycotts on sales of grains and meat in a copy cat repeat of last year's action. That should add support to the nears in Chicago, keeping the physicals quite tight.

With European end-users only seemingly having scant forward coverage front-end premiums might be the name of the game over here this summer.

Early calls for this afternoon's CBOT session: Corn futures are expected to open 1 to 2 higher; soybeans 4 to 6 higher; and wheat flat to 1 higher.