DTN Closing Grain Comments

Sayonara 2016

(DTN illustration by Nick Scalise)

General Comments:

March corn gained 2 1/4 cents to $3.52 and new-crop December added 3/4 cent to $3.80. March soybeans fell 8 3/4 cents to $10.04 while new-crop November lost 4 1/4 cents to $9.89 1/4. March Chicago wheat closed 3 1/4 cents higher at $4.08, March Kansas City gained 3 1/4 cents to $4.18 1/2, and March Minneapolis rallied 2 1/2 cents to close at $5.38. The U.S. dollar index was 0.31 lower at 102.34. February gold was $6.00 lower at $1,152.10 while March silver was $0.268 lower and March copper rallied $0.0170. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 45 points to 19,774. February crude oil slipped $0.20 to $53.57. The January distillates (heating oil) contract was $.0006 lower, January RBOB gasoline lost $.0170, and February natural gas fell $0.085.

For the week:

March corn closed 6 1/4 cents higher and new-crop December finished 3 3/4 cents higher. March soybeans were 6 1/2 cents higher and new-crop November was 8 cents higher. March Chicago wheat was 14 1/2 cents higher, March Kansas City finished 12 1/4 cents higher, and March Minneapolis wheat was 7 1/4 cents higher.

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Corn:

Corn contracts finished the day higher, but only slightly. Normally the weaker carry seen in futures spreads would indicate the presence of commercial buying, but Friday's action could have been the result of a general lack of interest ahead of a three-day holiday weekend. For the year, the DTN National Corn Index (national average cash price) was down more than 5% from its 2015 close of $3.33 3/4.

Soybeans:

Soybeans bounced back and forth across unchanged Friday before old-crop contracts fell to new session lows late in the day. Most of the activity seemed centered on South American weather forecasts heading into a three-day holiday weekend. And with next week's change in calendar page equivalent to a turn to July here in the United States, fireworks are expected when the market opens again Monday evening. Despite Friday's sell-off the DTN National Soybean Index (national average cash price) finished the year approximately 14% higher than where it was priced at the end of 2015.

Wheat:

Winter wheat contracts closed higher Friday, supported throughout the session by a lower U.S. dollar index and sporadic chatter regarding potential winter kill across the U.S. Southern Plains and Midwest as another arctic blast makes its way southward. For the most part, 2016 was bearish for winter wheat, with the DTN National HRW Wheat Index (national average cash price) losing about 22% over the course of the year.

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

Follow Darin Newsom on Twitter @DarinNewsom

(BAS)

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