Nogger's Blog

30/01/12 -- The overnight grains began the week lower for the first time in seven weeks. Beans finished the Globex session around 14 cents lower, with corn down 7-8 cents and wheat down 6-10 cents. Crude is a bit weaker and the US dollar a little firmer.

There was apparently some rain for parts of Argentina over the weekend, with the Rosario Grain Exchange saying that some areas have had up to 25mm in the past 72 hours. A decent amount more in the forecasts from today through to Thursday.

With month-end looming it seems that some consolidation is due. Wheat has added 53 cents since the 18th of the month, with corn putting on 48 1/4 cents and beans 35 cents, so maybe there will be a bit of profit-taking too.

Temperatures in Russia and Ukraine are raising a few eyebrows. Wednesday's high, yes high, of the day in Moscow is reported to be -19C by the BBC. See here: Brrrrr

As ever European debt concerns are never far away. Greek insists that it will sort a deal out with private bond holders, but it hasn't quite managed it yet. It's a heavy week for bond auctions across Europe this week as EU leaders meet in Brussels. Portuguese yields are through the roof and more 16-24 year olds in Spain are unemployed than employed.

Early calls for this afternoon's CBOT session: beans down 10-15 cents, wheat down 5-7 cents and corn down 6-8 cents.