DTN Midday Grain Comments 03/08 10:57

DTN Midday Grain Comments 03/08 10:57 Soybeans Higher at Midday; Corn, Wheat Lower Corn futures are 5 to 6 cents lower at midday Tuesday; soybean futures are 32 to 34 cents higher; wheat futures are 60 to 111 cents lower. David M. Fiala DTN Contributing Analyst MARKET SUMMARY: The U.S. stock market is weaker with the Dow 200 points lower. The U.S. Dollar Index is 13 points lower. Interest rate products are weaker. Energies are firmer with crude up 9.00. Livestock trade is mixed. Precious metals are firmer with gold up 70.00. CORN: Corn futures are 5 to 6 cents lower at midday with active trade continuing as we look to see if the spillover from wheat stays negative through the full session with firmer spread action so far after reversing Monday's action and basis pressure likely to continue. Ethanol margins will remain tight as we see how driving demand holds up along with turnaround on plant maintenance slowing grind in the short term with some demand likely pulled forward as consumers work to stay ahead of price hikes. Basis will continue to trend lower until trade starts to calm down. Trade will continue watching South American weather as we head into second-crop development, the key feature while corn looks to be defending acres in the U.S. On the May contract we have support at the 20-day moving average at $6.82 with resistance at the fresh high at $7.82 3/4 hit Friday. SOYBEANS: Soybean futures are 32 to 34 cents higher with firmer spread action with support from spread unwinding versus wheat as action moves back into the upper part of the recent range. Meal is $13.00 to $14.00 higher and oil is 70 to 80 points higher. Basis is expected to remain flat to weaker in the short term until futures action calms down, but the big moves seen elsewhere shouldn't be as common. The daily export sales wire stayed active with 132,000 metric tons (mt) of new crop to China, and 126,000 mt split between old and new crop to unknown. Harvest is underway in South America with weather remaining mixed and the U.S. still holding some export competitiveness short term as estimates for production continue to sit around 125 million metric tons (mmt) in Brazil. On the May soybean chart, we have resistance at the fresh high at $17.59 with trade well above the 20-day moving average at $16.22 support. WHEAT: Wheat futures are 60 to 113 cents lower with Chicago finally coming off limit trade and seeing huge ranges as trade pushed higher before testing expanded limits lower into midday action. The dollar is back near the highs as well as U.S. export competitiveness will slide in dollar terms versus places that can ship grain with talk of limited Russian shipping out of the Black Sea. Some moisture worked across parts of the Plains with colder weather near term. Chicago is expected to remain the highest priced nearby contract with a 79-cent premium to KC today, and 80 versus Minneapolis action because of limits. KC May chart support is the midday low at $11.39 with resistance the 412.99 1/2 fresh high. WASDE WEBINAR: Join DTN Lead Analyst, Todd Hultman, at 12:30 p.m. CST on Wednesday, March 9, as we take a look at USDA's new estimates and what they mean for the market. We'll also look at the market's own clues to help understand what is driving today's prices. Register for the webinar here: https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fag.dtn.com%2Fm ar-WASDE-WBR-Registration&data=04%7C01%7CCheri.Zagurski%40dtn.com%7Cc4b23c4a4477 47910c0008da00569110%7Cd945da26f07f451496e79b8f78a743d0%7C0%7C0%7C63782266903706 4194%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWw iLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=5NmkYtO%2Ba9KSOOgHlfZwd6E5AOnKMyZxqjmk2bOEOZQ%3D&re served=0 David Fiala can be reached at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @davidfiala (c) Copyright 2022 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.