CBOT Closing Comments

Corn

September corn closed at $3.20 up 5 ½ cents, and December corn at $3.27 ½, up 5 cents. Short covering oversold of corn following a sharply higher crude oil market helped corn today. Crude futures rose more than $3 today, settling up 4.7 percent at $72.42 per barrel after a government oil inventory report showed an unexpected crude oil supply drop last week. Estimates for tomorrow’s weekly export sales report range from 700,000 to 1,000,000 MT.

Soybeans

September soybeans finished at $9.97, up 1 ½ cents, and November beans at $9.58, down 1 cent. USDA announced another soybean sale to China for 2009/10 delivery of 205,000 MT. That brings total sales announcements to 498,000 MT (18,298,363 bushels) this week so far. Export sales estimates for tomorrow’s weekly USDA report range from 300,000 to 700,000 MT. Soybean pod counts were well below average on one Illinois route of the 2009 Pro Farmer Crop Tour, according to trade reports.

Wheat

September wheat ended at $4.66, down 4 ½ cents. One of the main factors for wheat today was the CFTC ruling that a unit of Deutsche Bank and one other un-named entity would no longer be able to legally evade the trading limits for wheat. Commodity funds sold an estimated 3,000 contracts today, adding to their short positions. Estimates for tomorrow’s weekly export sales report range from 350,000 to 550,000 MT.