Nogger's Blog

11/11/10 -- The overnight grains closed mostly a tad firmer, with beans up 3-5c, corn up 2-4c and wheat around a couple of cents firmer.

Crude oil is a bit higher, showing up above USD88/barrel now and seemingly eyeing a test of USD90/barrel.

It's Veterans Day so there's no weekly export sales report until tomorrow as most US government offices are closed, so fresh news is limited.

Informa are however expected to release their early 2011 planting intentions estimates later today.

US weather shows improving prospects for rain over the next few days for dry areas of Kansas, although temperatures are also forecast to drop sharply.

Brazilian soybean farmers are reportedly "planting around the clock" to get their delayed beans into the ground.

Strategie Grains say that the EU-27 will plant more wheat, corn and barley for 2011 - but not vast increases. They also warn on EU wheat exports for the current marketing year running at a rapid pace, with "a very large deficit" on the bottom line of the balance sheet. EU prices need to rise to offset increased demand, they say.

Early calls for this afternoon's CBOT session: Corn up 2-4 cents, soybeans 3-5 higher, and wheat 1-3 higher.