Daily US grain report: market bulls try to stabilise prices amid unpredictable summertime weather
US grain futures prices were steady to higher in overnight trading. Corn was steady, soybeans up around 3 cents, and wheat 2 to 3 cents higher.
19 July 2019
4 minute read
By: Short covering and a corrective bounce are featured late this week, after solid losses the grains have suffered this week.
The Midwest US weather did a classic "flip-flop" to the weather forecasters who last week were calling for hot and dry conditions for this week. While the Corn Belt is getting hot weather late this week, there have been much greater rainfall totals in the region this week than what the weather forecasters were predicting.
© Jim Wyckoff
The corn market has gotten little support from scorching temperatures in the Corn Belt the last part of this week, which come right during the critical pollination stage for much of the US corn crop.
Grain traders are not likely to add much selling pressure to the markets today, heading into the weekend, and when the weather patterns in the Midwest could shift again and surprise the markets.
Drop below July low of $8.90 1/2 would start a price downtrend and produce serious near-term chart damage. © Jim Wyckoff
The other negatives for the US agricultural markets this week are slack worldwide export demand and a deterioration of the US-China trade negotiations. China cancelled some soybean purchases in Thursday's weekly USDA export sales report. This comes at a time when President Trump is demanding China buy more US agricultural products, or the US might slap more trade sanctions on China.
