CBOT Closing Comments
Corn
May corn closed at $3.72 ¼, down 4 ¾ cents, off session lows of $3.62. Panic over the media coverage of the swine flu outbreak on Mexico got the market spooked today. All things considered corn put in quite a good performance considering that Mexico is the no 2 buyer of US corn. The weekly crop progress report was out this afternoon and showed corn planting at 22% this week compared to the five year average of 28% and last years same week plantings of 9%. That is a bit better than traders had feared. The numbers show a marked difference between East and West, with states like Iowa and Minnesota 47% & 40% done respectively, but Illinois and Ohio lagging at just 4% and 2% planted.
Soybeans
May soybeans finished at $10.04 ¾, down 35 ½ cents, although they had been 20 ¼ below that at one stage. As with corn, swine flu was the big story of the day, it still needs to be said though that all the official agencies are at pains to point out that the disease cannot be contracted from eating pork products. So exactly why feed demand should be down the kind of magnitude that the market seems to thing is quite naive. Chinese demand remains robust and the crops in South America keep getting smaller, and old crop US stocks are already tight, plus nobody seems overly keen on buying from Argentina at the moment. Hardly bearish. The weekly crop progress report after the close showed bean planting at 3% versus the 5 year average of 5%.
Wheat
May CBOT wheat finished at $5.08, down 24 ¼ cents. As with just about everything else today swine flu drove the market lower 'just because'. Unlike corn & beans, wheat actually closed within a cent of session lows, yet the case for being bearish wheat based on swine flu only is not as strong. Winter wheat in the 18 states was rated 45% Good to Excellent and 27% Poor to Very Poor. That was an slight improvement from last week of two points in the top two categories and unchanged in the bottom two. Spring wheat is 15% planted compared to the five year average of 36% and last year at this time of 32%, that is five points behind what had been anticipated. Additionally top producing spring wheat state of North Dakota is just 1% done compared to 28% a year ago.
May corn closed at $3.72 ¼, down 4 ¾ cents, off session lows of $3.62. Panic over the media coverage of the swine flu outbreak on Mexico got the market spooked today. All things considered corn put in quite a good performance considering that Mexico is the no 2 buyer of US corn. The weekly crop progress report was out this afternoon and showed corn planting at 22% this week compared to the five year average of 28% and last years same week plantings of 9%. That is a bit better than traders had feared. The numbers show a marked difference between East and West, with states like Iowa and Minnesota 47% & 40% done respectively, but Illinois and Ohio lagging at just 4% and 2% planted.
Soybeans
May soybeans finished at $10.04 ¾, down 35 ½ cents, although they had been 20 ¼ below that at one stage. As with corn, swine flu was the big story of the day, it still needs to be said though that all the official agencies are at pains to point out that the disease cannot be contracted from eating pork products. So exactly why feed demand should be down the kind of magnitude that the market seems to thing is quite naive. Chinese demand remains robust and the crops in South America keep getting smaller, and old crop US stocks are already tight, plus nobody seems overly keen on buying from Argentina at the moment. Hardly bearish. The weekly crop progress report after the close showed bean planting at 3% versus the 5 year average of 5%.
Wheat
May CBOT wheat finished at $5.08, down 24 ¼ cents. As with just about everything else today swine flu drove the market lower 'just because'. Unlike corn & beans, wheat actually closed within a cent of session lows, yet the case for being bearish wheat based on swine flu only is not as strong. Winter wheat in the 18 states was rated 45% Good to Excellent and 27% Poor to Very Poor. That was an slight improvement from last week of two points in the top two categories and unchanged in the bottom two. Spring wheat is 15% planted compared to the five year average of 36% and last year at this time of 32%, that is five points behind what had been anticipated. Additionally top producing spring wheat state of North Dakota is just 1% done compared to 28% a year ago.