Good Morning,
The markets got a boost this week from some active short-covering by the funds after the surprisingly bullish report from the USDA to kick off the week. While things cooled off as the week wore on, fund managers are still maintaining a good-sized net-short position and are currently short 137,000 corn contracts.
The latest weather forecasts are a little warmer, but not warm enough to keep things above freezing in the Dakota’s and portions of the western Corn Belt over the next week. Eventually the more seasonally cool temperatures will move over the rest of the Midwest, but big threats to national yield estimates from frost/freeze will be limited.
Next week could be an interesting one. The early yield reports we are hearing on corn are all over the board from last year. Beans sound as they may end up being lower than last year. Weather outlooks continue to show the mercury dropping and fields too wet to make any progress getting anything in the bin. Additionally, we will get to see the latest estimates on production from our friends over at the USDA. And if that weren’t enough the Chinese negotiating team will be sitting down in high-level meetings with their US counterparts in Washington DC. Let’s hope something can get done there because we are in need of some bullish news for traders to react to. Any bullish news should be countered with sales by producers as it won’t last long!
Have a Safe Weekend!
Garry Gard
920-348-6844
ggard@didionmilling.com
