Soybeans and wheat were higher overnight while corn continued to drift lower in the night session. In outside markets, stock futures were lower while oil tried to recover from sharp losses on Monday.
Grains were mostly listless in Monday's trade with the Columbus holiday providing no key government data. Today, USDA will release export inspections later this morning and crop progress after the close. Overnight rains of 0.25 to 1" fell in southern Indiana, southern Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee yesterday, aiding soft wheat germination. Dry weather persists across Midwest/Delta harvest areas all week. A cold front crosses the Midwest/Delta later next week, but rains have been scaled back. Still, showers should improve germination for soft wheat in the southwest/eastern Midwest and western Delta. Plains rain prospects remain limited to the southeast third of the wheat belt in the 6 to 15 day. This will hamper hard red wheat establishment, especially in Kansas/Colorado where rain deficits have been most pronounced over the past month.
In international news, China's soybean imports were 7.26 MMT in September, down from 7.78 in August. However, the Sept 2015 total is still 2 MMT above last year's amount and by far the largest Sept soybean import total to date.
U.S. stock-index futures slipped overnight with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (ESZ5) at a seven-week high, after a weaker-than-expected fall in China's imports underscored the headwinds to global growth. Oil (GCLX5 / QMX5) posted positive gains overnight after falling nearly $3 a barrel. However, the recovery may prove short-lived as oversupply conditions continue to hold true. This morning's Chinese trade numbers were also uninspiring. China's September exports fell 3.7% year-over-year in dollar terms, an improvement from a 6.1% fall in August and a 6.5% drop expected by the market, while imports fell 20.4% in dollar terms, falling short of a 16% fall expected by the street, deepening worries that the world's second-largest economy is spattering. China's September crude-oil imports rose 1.4% year-over-year to 27.95 million tons, rising 8.8% year-over-year to 248.62 million tons in the first nine months of the year. The rise in crude imports isn't too impressive considering the broader prolonged imports decline.
