DTN Midday Grain Comments 01/17 10:54

DTN Midday Grain Comments 01/17 10:54 Corn Higher at Midday; Soybeans Mixed, Wheat Lower Corn trade is 3 to 4 cents higher; beans are narrowly mixed, and wheat trade is 1 to 6 cents lower. David M. Fiala DTN Contributing Analyst MARKET SUMMARY: Corn trade is 3 to 4 cents higher; beans are narrowly mixed, and wheat trade is 1 to 6 cents lower. The U.S. stock market is weaker with the DOW down 350 points. The Dollar Index is 10 points higher. Interest rate products are mixed. Energies has crude flat, and natural gas up 0.30. Livestock trade is mixed with hogs leading. Precious metals are weaker with gold down 8.00. CORN: Corn is 3 to 4 cents higher with trade firming back from early weakness with spread action remaining firm as we push back to the upper end of the recent range. Ethanol margins will need demand to improve to support production near term with blender margins showing a little improvement on recent unleaded strength. Crop development will continue to be watched in Argentina as pace and conditions lag last year with better short-term development expected. The daily export wire perked up with 150,000 metric tons of old crop sold to Colombia with weekly inspections improving a bit at 774,461 metric tons. Basis has stabilized in the west with above average action holding up overall. On the March chart, support is at the $6.63 20-day moving average which we moved above last week with the upper Bollinger Band at $6.84 the next round up, which remains about a nickel below at midday. SOYBEANS: Soybeans are narrowly mixed at midday with two-sided action and weaker spread action at the upper end of the range while trade waits for demand developments and South American forecast changes. Meal is 0.50 to 1.50 lower and oil is 50 to 60 points higher. The daily export wire showed life to start the week with 119,000 metric tons sold to unknown, and weekly export inspections improved at 2.075 million metric tons. South American weather looks for some relief in the drier areas short term. Basis remains mostly sideways near term. March chart support is at the $14.94 20-day which continues to hold, with the lower Bollinger Band at 14.57 as the next level down, with the Upper Bollinger Band at $15.31 which we have pulled back from overnight. WHEAT: Wheat trade is 1 to 6 cents lower at midday with KC leading as trade firms back from the early overnight selling as it looks to extend the winning streak to four days ahead of Plains winter storms. The Southern Plains should show improvement over the next couple of weeks, while Europe and the Black Sea see mixed weather as we move deeper into winter. Matif wheat values continue to fade as well, limiting U.S. export competitiveness. Weekly export inspections improved slightly at 320,473 metric tons. On the chart, KC March has resistance at the 20-day moving average at $8.50 which we remain a dollar below, with the fresh low at $8.03 from a week ago as support with the lower Bollinger band at $8.08. David Fiala can be reached at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @davidfiala (c) Copyright 2023 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.