In the overnight session the grains found some selling pressure near resistance levels. Corn is down 1/2 cents, soybeans are down 3 cents and wheat is down 8 1/4 cents on the day. The Dollar index is trading slightly higher this morning and crude oil is lower by a percent.
Corn is currently trading at its 50 day moving average and is now at a price level scared by consolidation throughout most of February and March. Be aware that selling pressure at these levels is likely following the strong two day rally that lifted us off the short term lows of $3.67. Soybeans are also near a resistance level where the 20 day simple moving average and 50 day simple moving average converge.
State level crop conditions reported yesterday that Kansas winter wheat good to excellent ratings were unchanged from the previous week at 41 percent, Oklahoma increased 4 percent to 44 percent good to excellent and Texas improved 4 percent to 55 percent good to excellent. Despite this week’s improvement in crop conditions, traders see a drier pattern developing over the next 10 days with only a chance of patchy showers in the 11-15 day forecast. Russia’s weather stressed crop looks to receive more moisture over the next week as rains expand across Europe, Ukraine and into Russia.
Export inspections were mostly positive this week with corn beating analyst expectations with 994,666 metric tons of corn booked this week compared to 750,000-950,000 metric tons expected. Soybeans and wheat both met analyst expectations with 519,464 metric tons and 511,069 metric tons respectively.
