BASIC & RECENT MARKET INFO

Tidbits

Tidbits Wheat export:  This wheat marketing year began 1 June. Total export wheat sales for this marketing year stand at 6.5 million mts, up from 5 million mts last year at this point. By wheat class, HRW sales are 2.6 million mts, up from 1.1 million last year, white wheat at 1.3 million mts, up from 1.2 million last year, and SRW export sales at 857,000 mts, up from 804,000 mts last year.   Corn:  A South Dakota client said yesterday he has 21 fields of corn and 16 of them

Market Comment Let’s look at the technical situation for December corn.     Corn began a downtrend after the high was made on 19 February 2025. The high for December corn that day was $4.79¾ and it settled at $4.76½, down 1¢ on the day, which is technically bearish, meaning new high for the trend and then closing lower the same day is bearish. But hey, it was only 1¢ lower on the day. Remember this: One cent lower settlement after a new high for the up-trending market is sign

Tidbits Argentina's  Rosario Grain Exchange is warning that the country stands to lose significant corn and soybean meal export share to Vietnam in the wake of a U.S.-Vietnam trade deal.   In the area of Boa Esperança Do Norte, Mato Grosso  a record yield of safrinha corn was announced: 223 bushels/acre (233.16 60Kg-bags/hectare).    AgRural raised Brazil’s  corn production to 128.5 million mts (USDA 130), supporting medium-term supply. However, AgRural warns early planting i

Tidbits USDA April crush numbers  for soybeans, canola, and corn will be issued 2 PM Central today.   Over the weekend, India  reduced the tariff  on all vegetable oils by 10%. Domestic veg oil supplies are priced higher than any imported oil, according to Tushar Agarwal, market analyst for edible oils.   Yesterday, Ukraine  launched a massive drone strike on Russia  sending drones 2,670 miles (4300 kms) past the battle line, deeper into Russia than ever before. Drone hit mul

Tidbits President Trump said Friday evening he increased tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from 25% to 50%.  Head-and-Shoulders Formation A head-and-shoulders  formation is a technical indicator of a trend change from up to sideways or down. Such formations are formed on charts where one vertical line (a bar) represents the trading range for one day or one week. During a few weeks multiple bars form a pattern that resembles a head above a left and right shoulder. Usually

Tidbits The National Weather Service predicts the Eastern Corn Belt  will finally get some dry weather in the next two weeks. Perhaps all the corn will get planted in Indiana and Ohio after all. Tractors were in the West Central Ohio fields yesterday, but the soil is really too wet for a good crop growth. Compaction will be a problem in the Eastern Corn Belt. Aluísio Pancracio is the owner of Sastra Consultoria based in the municipality of Rio Verde, in the state of Goiás, Br

Tidbits Grain markets will be closed on Monday due to Memorial Day , it will reopen at 7 PM CT on Monday, May 26. The National Grain and Feed Association opposes expanding agricultural futures trading hours , warning it could cause unnecessary volatility and increase manipulation risk, especially if futures markets are open while cash markets are closed. In a letter to the CFTC, they stressed that a pause in futures trading is crucial for physical commodity deliveries. The Na

Tidbits Pro Farmer reports: Some yield concerns  are cropping up in Brazil , with some later-planted safrinha corn facing an increased stress in drier biased areas, most notably in center-west areas.   For anyone watching our daily rain day charts that is no surprise. The first three locations are Brazil’s safrinha corn area and the dry season clearly started the first week in May. The dry season usually means no rain. Imagine what a corn field looks like if planted in sandy

Tidbits Barchart.com is one of the most popular charting services for every market (stocks, bonds, options, commodities, indexes, etc.). Barchart provides a lot of free information as well as many other services for a fee. Every business day, Barchart reports the conclusion of thirteen purely technical analysis systems to recommend if an investor should buy, sell, or hold a given investment item. The results are computer generated. Therefore, we conclude there is no human op

Tidbits Weather  for the next six days predict Missouri, southern areas of Iowa, Illinois and Indiana will get the most rain, as much as 3 to 4 inches (76 to 102 mm). Wind gusts over the major hard wheat production regions are expected to blow over 50 mph in the next ten days.    StoneX’s fertilizer  guy, Josh Linville: "Phosphate values are incredibly high priced with few signs it will soften. NOLA DAP is @ $680."   The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) manufacturing PMI

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Tidbits Agriculture futures markets will not trade until tomorrow evening at normal times. Crude oil will trade normal hours this evening...

Tidbits Stock markets around the world kick-off today with the global macro and market landscape very different from how it looked on Friday morning thanks to a set of U.S. employment figures that not even the most bullish of forecasters expected.   The immediate shift in U.S. interest rate futures markets indicate a 50-basis point rate (one-half percent) cut next month is now completely off the table. The markets signal a quarter-point cut at each of the next two Federal Ope

Tidbits Soft red winter wheat made a key reversal yesterday, which occurs when the price of a stock or commodity makes a new low and closes higher than the previous day’s high. It can also be made on weekly charts and a key reversal on a weekly chart is considered a more reliable trend change indicator.   A key reversal was a respected technical indicator of trend change until 2023 and 2024. Corn, wheat, and beans have had multiple key reversals the past 14 months. But someda

Tidbits Last night’s 6 to 10 day NOAA weather forecast is calling for above and much above normal temperatures in the Corn Belt spreading east on the 8 to 14 day forecast. Both forecasts are predicting above normal rainfall for the Corn Belt with much above normal rainfall in the Western Corn Belt.   The Commerce Department reported on Friday that consumer spending in February was rising by the fastest rate in just over a year. The United States economy continues to outperfor

Highlights The number of CBOT contracts that will be assigned today for delivery tomorrow were announced last evening. If you want price to go higher, you want to see very few to no deliveries, but nothing is 100% in this business. Spring Wheat 591 contracts to 20 Feb 2024 KC Wheat 56 to 13 Feb 2024 Chi Wheat 484 to 22 Feb 2024 Soybeans 702 to 26 Feb 2024, pretty “strong hands”       Soy Meal1 to 18 Aug 2023 Soy Oil 271 to 1 Feb 2024, 234 contracts went to “strong hands”     

Highlights Yesterday morning, old crop corn and beans did  make new lows for 2024, extending the down trend since the spring 21 months ago. New crop corn (Dec) and beans (Nov) did not  make new lows.   March corn and March soybeans made key reversals yesterday, which is a respected technical trend indicator. A key reversal occurs when a commodity (or stock) makes a new low, but the settlement price is higher than the previous day’s high. Before you mortgage your house and buy

Highlights The Ukrainian army has launched a missile strike on the port of Feodosia in Crimea and claims to have destroyed a Russian landing ship, but reliable details of the aftermath, including casualties, have yet to emerge. This came just after Russia claimed full control of the village of Maryinka, an important strategic point for which battles have been fought since the spring of 2022.   Between midnight last Tuesday and midnight yesterday, Rondonópolis received a total

Highlights Russian forces continue to hit port infrastructure and damaged a cargo terminal in Odessa. Over the last 10 days, 26 port facilities have been hit in Ukraine. It came to our attention yesterday midday that troubled PacWest Bank was going to be absorbed by the Banc of California. The deal was done two days before it became common knowledge. Here is the press release from the 25th which we did not see nor did anyone we know talk or write about it: "The Banc of Calif