DTN Before The Bell Grain Comments

Morning CME Globex Update:

July corn was up 1/4 cent, July soybeans were up 3/4 cent, and July K.C. wheat was down 8 1/2 cents. July K.C. wheat was down 8 1/2 cents early Wednesday after day one of the crop tour pegged wheat yields at a decent 43.0 bushels an acre. Corn and soybeans were slightly higher with heavy showers in eastern Kansas and Missouri on Wednesday morning.

Other Markets:

Dow Jones:	Lower
U.S. Dollar Index:	Higher
Gold:	Lower
Crude Oil:	Higher

Corn:

July corn was up a quarter-cent early Wednesday, staying in the middle of its sideways trading range while heavy showers were falling on eastern Kansas and Missouri with additional flooding concerns in southern Illinois and Indiana and in southern Gulf states. After Thursday, the Corn Belt's weather will turn drier and warmer, offering better planting opportunities where fields are not flooded. In South America, Brazil's second corn crop continues to do well and Argentina's forecast remains mostly favorable for further harvest progress. July corn continues to trade in a sideways range with support at $3.61 3/4. DTN's National Corn Index closed at $3.32 Tuesday, priced 40 cents below the July contract and still in a sideways range. There were 870 contracts of May corn delivered early Wednesday. In outside markets, the June U.S. dollar index is up 0.12 ahead of Wednesday's 1 p.m. CDT post-meeting announcement from the Federal Reserve.

Soybeans:

July soybeans were up 3/4 cent, still holding most of Monday's gain with early help from buying in soybean meal. Wednesday morning's rain in eastern Kansas and Missouri is expected to move through Indiana and Ohio on Thursday and will add to this spring's planting challenges. Everywhere else however, is expecting drier weather and warmer temperatures by the weekend which will help the overall planting effort. Meanwhile, Argentina continues to harvest soybeans with a mostly favorable seven-day forecast. Fundamentally, the outlook for increased soybean supplies remains bearish and the trend is still down, but there is also uncertainty about the year ahead and prices are still holding above the outside weekly reversal made three weeks ago. DTN's National Soybean Index closed at $8.94 Tuesday, priced 75 cents below the July contract and near its highest price in five weeks. Among May contracts, there were 194 deliveries in soybeans, 66 deliveries in soybean oil, and 173 deliveries of soybean meal early Wednesday.

Wheat:

July Chicago wheat was down 6 cents and July K.C. wheat was down 8 1/2 cents early, backing down from Tuesday's highs after day one of the U.S. Wheat Quality Council's Hard Red Winter Wheat Tour came up with a decent estimate of 43.0 bushels an acre, down from 47.1 bushels a year ago. Day two will cover more of the area hit by snow over the weekend and, while it is still too early to tell how much of the wheat will be able to bounce back, the common wisdom is that there is a chance where stems are not broken. Outside of the U.S., Canada is expected to benefit from drier and warmer weather and western Europe has seen light showers. July Chicago and July K.C. wheat both remain in uptrends in the aftermath of last weekend's weather, but sustaining those uptrends may become difficult if wheat areas outside the U.S. continue to do well. DTN's National SRW index closed at $4.10 Tuesday, priced 44 cents below the July contract and near its highest price in seven weeks. Among May contracts, there were 39 deliveries of Chicago wheat and 242 deliveries of K.C. wheat early Wednesday.

Todd Hultmancan be reached at todd.hultman@dtn.com

FollowTodd on Twitter @ToddHultman1

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