DTN Early Word Grains 02/16 05:55

DTN Early Word Grains 02/16 05:55 Grains Slightly Lower Early Friday March corn was 1/4 cent lower, March soybeans were 1/4 cent lower, and July Kansas City (HRW) wheat was 1 1/4 cents lower. By Todd Hultman DTN Analyst 6:00 a.m. CME Globex: March corn was 1/4 cent lower, March soybeans were 1/4 cent lower, and July Kansas City (HRW) wheat was 1 1/4 cents lower. CME Globex Recap: Friday's markets find China closed for a New Year celebration, overnight stock markets mostly higher, commodities mixed to higher and grain prices steady to lower with most staying close to Thursday's closes. The March U.S. dollar index is up 0.10, holding near its January low. OUTSIDE MARKETS: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 306.88 points (1.2%) higher at 25,200.37, the NASDAQ Composite gained 112.81 points (1.6%) to 7,256.43, and the S&P 500 was up 32.57 points (1.2%) to 2,731.20 Thursday. DJIA futures were 20 points higher early Friday morning in active trading. Japan's Nikkei 225 is up 255.27 points (2.0%) while Hong Kong's Hang Seng and China's Shanghai Composite were closed for the Chinese New Year. European markets were also higher with London's FTSE 100 up 45.04 points (0.6%), Germany's DAX up 60.79 points (0.5%), and France's CAC 40 up 30.77 points (0.6%). The euro was 0.0025 lower at 1.2505 while the U.S. dollar index was up 0.09 at 88.71. March 30-year T-Bonds were 5/32 higher at 144'05 while April gold was up $5.70 to $1,361.00. Crude oil was $0.10 higher at $61.27 and Brent crude was up $0.12 at $64.45. Malaysian palm oil futures did not trade Friday and China's Dalian soybean futures were closed for China's New Year.