CBOT Closing Comments
Soybeans
November soybeans closed at $10.06, up ½ cent, December soybean meal at $303.30, up $2.50 and December soybean oil at 37.94, down 36 points. Profit-taking and pre-weekend position squaring trimmed early gains, even so soybeans still closed 32 cents higher for the week. October looks set to be the wettest on record in the US by the time next week's forecast storms have passed, making the soybean harvest one of the most difficult, and certainly the slowest, for many years. Iowa, Illinois and Indiana are the top soybean producing states and as of last Sunday they were only 37%, 13% and 27% harvested respectively.
Corn
December corn closed at $3.97 ¾, down 5 ¾ cents. Having traded higher most of the session, a late pre-weekend sell-off trimmed corn's gains, but December still closed almost 26 cents higher than last week. Weather forecasts continue to call for above normal precipitation through November 6th for most of the eastern US with much below normal temperatures. Meanwhile crop quality continued to deteriorate in this cold and damp environment. The USDA will report Monday night on harvest progress, it might not make pleasant reading.
Wheat
Wheat closed at 5.47 ¾, down 4 cents, despite having been sharply higher most of the session. As with beans and corn, a late sell-off trimmed early gains which had propelled wheat to four month highs. Until the corn and soybean crops are out of the ground there will be no double crop wheat planted in the eastern Corn Belt. Whilst the large spec trade is still short, they have trimmed their exposure somewhat this week according to data from the CFTC. Whilst profit-taking took some shine off the nearbys, new crop Dec 2010 closed 5 ¼ cents higher at 6.25 ¾, and March 2011 finished 6 ½ cents higher at 6.38 ½.
November soybeans closed at $10.06, up ½ cent, December soybean meal at $303.30, up $2.50 and December soybean oil at 37.94, down 36 points. Profit-taking and pre-weekend position squaring trimmed early gains, even so soybeans still closed 32 cents higher for the week. October looks set to be the wettest on record in the US by the time next week's forecast storms have passed, making the soybean harvest one of the most difficult, and certainly the slowest, for many years. Iowa, Illinois and Indiana are the top soybean producing states and as of last Sunday they were only 37%, 13% and 27% harvested respectively.
Corn
December corn closed at $3.97 ¾, down 5 ¾ cents. Having traded higher most of the session, a late pre-weekend sell-off trimmed corn's gains, but December still closed almost 26 cents higher than last week. Weather forecasts continue to call for above normal precipitation through November 6th for most of the eastern US with much below normal temperatures. Meanwhile crop quality continued to deteriorate in this cold and damp environment. The USDA will report Monday night on harvest progress, it might not make pleasant reading.
Wheat
Wheat closed at 5.47 ¾, down 4 cents, despite having been sharply higher most of the session. As with beans and corn, a late sell-off trimmed early gains which had propelled wheat to four month highs. Until the corn and soybean crops are out of the ground there will be no double crop wheat planted in the eastern Corn Belt. Whilst the large spec trade is still short, they have trimmed their exposure somewhat this week according to data from the CFTC. Whilst profit-taking took some shine off the nearbys, new crop Dec 2010 closed 5 ¼ cents higher at 6.25 ¾, and March 2011 finished 6 ½ cents higher at 6.38 ½.
