Overnight Market Developments

eCBOT grains are mixed overnight with soybeans a couple of cents higher, wheat down 3-4c and corn 1-2c easier.

There's not a lot of fresh fundamental news so far this morning.

On the Chinese Dalian Commodity Exchange, soybeans for May delivery fell 1.7 percent to settle at 3,035 yuan ($443) a tonne. The Chinese Ministry of Finance said Tuesday that the country had cancelled it's value-added tax on soybean exports.

Japan is tending the market for 62,000mt wheat, a combination of Australian & US, in a tender to be concluded Thursday.

The harvest in Australia is slowly grinding on with analysts now estimating that it could take until February to wrap up due to persistent heavy rains.

Morgan Stanley forecast corn will average $4.50 a bushel in the year to Aug. 31, down from $5.50 estimated in October. Still, that is significantly higher than current levels.

Crude appears to have settled into a trading range in the mid-$40's ahead of the OPEC meeting in Algeria later this week.

The dollar is at two-month lows against the euro on speculation the Federal Reserve will reduce interest rates to a record low later today.

The pound is at $1.5240, and hasn't even got around to setting a record all-time low against the euro yet today at 1.1156.

The latest UK inflation figures are expected to show another sharp drop in the rate for November.

Economics predict that inflation, as measured by the government's preferred Consumer Prices Index, will have fallen from 4.5% in October to 3.9% or less.

The FTSE100, CAC40 and DAX are all up a tad in early trade.

As the recession bites and consumer spending slumps more High Street names are feeling the pinch.

Kesa Electricals has reported a half-year loss at UK chain Comet, with sales falling because of "extremely difficult" trading conditions. For the six months to 31 October, Comet made a loss of £8.1m, compared with a profit of £10.6m a year earlier.

Carpetright, Britain's biggest carpet chain, warned annual profits would be "significantly" below City expectations as it reported a 67% fall in first-half profits and slashed its dividend.