CBOT Early Call

The overnights closed steady with beans and wheat up around 4-5 cents and corn up a cent or so.

Crude oil is up almost a dollar and a half, nudging USD73/barrel, and the dollar is weaker for once.

First-time US unemployment claims dipped by 14,000 to 460,000, a bit less than the 16,000 reduction the market was expecting.

China has said that it won't cut it's Eurozone holdings as some media reports had suggested. But then again what else would you expect them to say?

US Census Bureau pegs April's crush at 136.5 million bushels, lower than the 138.2 million expected. Even so they only need to average just 125.7 million for the next 4 months to hit the USDA's target.

Japan bought 131,000 MT of wheat overnight, with 90,000 MT being US origin.

US export sales for beans were 175,400 MT old crop and 120,000 MT new crop. Expectations were for sales of around 500,000 MT. China took one 60,000 MT cargo of old and both cargoes of new crop.

Old crop corn sales were 1,030,800 MT, with China accounting for 241,000 MT of that. New crop sales showed net reductions of 174,000 MT (China -130,000 MT).

Wheat sales were 148,800 MT old crop and 336,700 MT new crop. Expectations were around the 400,000 MT mark.

Early calls for this afternoon's CBOT session: corn up 1-2c, soybeans and wheat up 3-5c.