Early Call On Chicago
23/08/11 -- The overnight grains finished with wheat around 8c firmer, corn up 3-5c and beans up 8-10c. Crude oil is a bit firmer and the dollar a tad weaker, both lending support.
Last night's fall in crop condition ratings is deemed supportive if hardly surprising.
FCStone report that the current ProFarmer crop tour "is actually showing good to excellent pod counts. However, pod count means nothing if they do not fill well."
Egypt have bought another three cargoes of Russian wheat this afternoon.
Russia says that it's harvest is now at the halfway point producing 57.9 MMT of grains, of which 37.3 MMT is wheat and 12.2 MMT is barley.
Iraq is tendering for 50,000 MT of wheat but will probably buy more, and Jordan is shopping for 100,000 MT of feed barley. Algeria is also looking for 50,000 MT of barley.
StatsCanada may announce a larger than anticpated by the USDA Canadian wheat and rapeseed crop later this afternoon.
Today's Chinese government soybean auction apparently attracted no bids.
There's an air of calm about the market so far this week, although I suspect that the funds have familiarised themselves as to exactly where the nearest exit is.
Fed Chairman Ben "Thomas Caxton" Bernanke may announce the launching of QE3 on Friday, favouring short-term gain for even more long-term pain.
New home sales in the US fell for a surprise third straight month in July, according to the US Commerce Department today.
Early calls for this afternoon's CBOT session: corn up 4-5c, beans up 8-10c, wheat up 6-8c.
