DTN Midday Grain Comments 12/15 10:48

DTN Midday Grain Comments 12/15 10:48 Corn and Bean Futures Lower Midday Thursday Corn trade is 1 to 2 cents lower; beans are 13 to 14 cents lower and wheat trade is 2 cents lower to 3 cents higher. David M. Fiala DTN Contributing Analyst MARKET SUMMARY: Corn trade is 1 to 2 cents lower; beans are 13 to 14 cents lower and wheat trade is 2 cents lower to 3 cents higher. The U.S. stock market is sharply lower with the Dow down 800 points. The U.S. Dollar Index is 0.70 higher. Interest rate products are firmer. Energies are weaker with crude off $1.15 and natural gas flat. Livestock trade is mixed. Precious metals are weaker with gold off $31.00. CORN: Corn trade is 1 to 2 cents lower in quiet midday trade Thursday as rangebound action continues with little fresh news and negative outside market spillover. Ethanol margins have stabilized a bit with corn holding the lower end of the range and natural gas backing off the highs, but demand is likely to remain soft until holiday travel. Dry weather in Argentina is raising some concern for their crop short term with some recent rains and warmer, drier weather to return near term before moderating again. The daily export wire has been quiet in recent days with weekly sales showing improvement at 958,900 metric ton range, along with 101,600 metric tons sold to Mexico on the daily wire. Spread action has been softer Thursday after recent firmness. Basis continues to deflate slowly in the west but remains well above average. On the March chart, support is at our recent low of $6.35 with other notable longer-term lows at the $6.12 early August low and then the $5.69 July low. Resistance is at the $6.56 20-day moving average, which we faded from earlier in the week. SOYBEANS: Soybean trade is 13 to 14 cents lower with trade fading a bit from the upper end of the range with little fresh bullish news and spread unwinding, keeping trade on its back foot. Meal is $4.50 to $5.50 lower and oil is 0.55 cent to 0.75 cent lower as product action works to hold strong crush margins and rebalance again after the meal strength. Brazil looks to remain in good shape short term, while the Argentina improvement maybe fleeting with hotter and dry weather expected to return short term. The daily export wire was quiet Thursday with less action so far this week, with the weekly export sales strong at 2.94 million metric tons of old crop beans, 209,600 of meal, and -200 of oil. Basis remains mostly sideways near term. January chart support is at the $14.54 20-day with resistance at the $14.98 upper Bollinger Band and then the $14.93 3/4 two-month high, scored this Friday. WHEAT: Wheat trade is 2 cents lower to 3 cents higher with trade consolidating further after spread action favored Chicago within the range Wednesday with trade remaining near the oversold end of the range and early gains turned to two-sided action. The Southern Plains look to remain mostly dry short term with cooler and wetter potential the second week for the North and East as the crop heads towards dormancy. Southern Hemisphere harvest continues to move ahead with mixed results so far. Matif wheat values have faded further today as they sit at recent lows as the premium to U.S. origin narrows. Weekly export sales showed improvement at 469,000 metric tons. On the chart, KC March has support at the lower Bollinger Band at $8.14 and the fresh low at $8.27 scored last week still above those levels. Resistance is at the $8.80 20-day. David Fiala can be reached at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @davidfiala (c) Copyright 2022 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.