Grains posted modest gains overnight with soybeans and wheat up 3 while corn was up one cent Outside markets were trying to recover some of the week’s losses with S&P futures and crude oil bouncing higher in night trade.
Overnight, South Korean firms bought US wheat and US soybeans, although the soybeans were for delivery in 2017. China, the world's top soy buyer, will import 2 MMT more in the 2015/16 marketing year at 80 MMT, an official grains think tank said in a revised forecast, due to higher-than-expected crushing demand.
Yesterday’s export sales report from USDA showed very disappointing totals for corn and wheat. And although it was a holiday week, the year-to-date totals corn and wheat are well behind the pace needed to reach USDA’s forecast. Corn export commitments are off 25% from the same time last year, but USDA sees only a 6% drop in exports for the year. If these levels of sluggish exports continue, it will mean the export target for USDA will fall by 300 MB and cause old-crop carryout to balloon to over 2 billion bushels.
U.S. stock-index futures rose as China’s move to shore up markets stemmed a sell-off from global equities this week. Gains in Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures signaled the gauge will rebound from the worst-ever start to a year. The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 2 percent as Chinese authorities suspended a circuit-breaker system, set a higher yuan reference rate and directed state-controlled funds to buy shares. Treasuries and the yen headed for their first declines this week and gold dropped.
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