DTN Closing Grain Comments

By Darin Newsom
DTN Senior Analyst

General Comments:

July corn was 4 cents lower at $3.95 1/4, with December 4 cents lower at $4.13. July soybeans finished 4 3/4 cents lower at $9.95, with November down 4 3/4 cents at $10.04 1/4. July Chicago wheat closed 3 1/4 cents higher at $4.97 1/2, July Kansas City was 5 cents higher at $5.19 and July Minneapolis gained 3 3/4 cents to $6.15. June gold was $1.60 lower at $1,289.90, with July silver up $0.064 and June copper gaining $0.0095. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 119 points to 24,649. June crude oil was $0.24 lower at $71.25. The June distillates (heating oil) contract was $0.0095 higher, June RBOB gasoline slipped $0.0079, and June natural gas gained $0.036.

Corn:

Corn was under pressure late in the Thursday's session, putting it in position to establish short-term bearish technical signals overnight through Friday. If old-crop July moves to a new weekly low below $3.94 1/4, it would imply an extension of the short-term downtrend to possibly $3.89 1/4. There was little fresh news over the course of the session, with old-crop commercial traders staying on the sidelines. On the other hand, commercial selling was seen in new-crop futures spreads, likely reflecting opinions of this coming weekend's weather forecasts.

Soybeans:

The soybean market had an interesting close Thursday, with contracts down 7 cents heading into settlement. Lo and behold, as final prices were being posted, contracts erased a couple cents of those losses across the board. The late-day sell-off saw old-crop July trade below short-term technical support on its daily chart at $9.94 3/4, hitting $9.92 1/2 on the close before settling at $9.95. It's possible the contract could take back those 2 cents at the open of the overnight session Thursday evening. Stay tuned to see what happens next.

Wheat:

Kansas City wheat wasn't able to hold its overnight bullish momentum through Thursday's session, giving back more than half its double-digit gain by the time the closing bell rang. Still, its July contract is indicating it could try to climb higher Friday as traders continue to monitor weekend weather forecasts. Similar activity was seen in Chicago, where spillover pressure from corn and soybeans late in the day ate away at any bullish momentum the SRW wheat market may have had.

Darin Newsom can be reached at darin.newsom@dtn.com

Follow Darin Newsom on Twitter @DarinNewsom

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