Grains were mixed overnight with soybeans advancing to fresh 8-month highs and wheat also posted positive gains. Corn was flat in early trade. In outside markets, oil was off sharply but recovered from early losses of over a $2 a barrel slide on Sunday following the failed oil minister meeting in Doha.
Soybeans rose for a sixth session out of seven, with heavy rains in Argentina raising fears of crop damage. Also, current Brazil President Rousseff suffered a humiliating loss in a crucial impeachment vote in the lower house of Congress on Sunday and is almost certain to be forced from office, which could add more strength to the Brazilian Real. In Argentina, Rosario grains exchange left its soy crop forecast unchanged at 59 million tonnes, saying it would take time to gauge the damage from rains. Rain in Argentina was somewhat restricted during the Friday into Sunday morning period with some welcome drying noted. Rain fell from La Pampa and Buenos Aires to southern Santa Fe and southern Entre Rios. Amounts varied from 0.05 to 0.75 inch most often, although as much as 1.69 inches occurred in southeastern Entre Rios. Rain will move through central and northeastern Argentina today and Monday with some of it heavy from Uruguay and Entre Rios to northeastern Santa Fe and Corrientes. The rain event will become confined to Corrientes, northeastern Santa Fe and eastern Chaco during mid-week this week and showers may linger in the region daily through the weekend.
Rainy weather occurred as expected across nearly all of the U.S. hard red winter wheat country. A few counties in the Texas Panhandle did not receive much precipitation. In contrast, rain totals in portions of southern Nebraska, northern to south-central Kansas and areas in central and southwestern Oklahoma to north-central Texas reported 2.00 to more than 5.00 inches.
Oil prices pared some of the over 5 percent losses seen in early trade, after the world's largest oil-producing countries failed to strike a deal to freeze output. Some 18 oil-exporting nations, including OPEC members, had gathered in Doha, the capital of Qatar, over the weekend in an attempt to agree to stabilize output at January levels until October 2016. The pact fell apart after Saudi Arabia demanded that Iran join in.
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