Grains and oilseeds are higher on Thursday following the overnight session. The U.S. dollar continued its modest recovery after falling near a four-year low on Tuesday. Crude oil surged yet again overnight. Stock futures are higher.

CORN
Corn futures climbed sharply higher on Wednesday and approached old support areas, though prices settled off their highs and only gained 3.50 cents on the day to close at $4.30 a bushel.

Futures once again challenged those levels overnight, attempting to retrace their sharp losses from the Jan. 12 data dump.

The recent surge in crude oil is likely having some positive effects on the grain market after reaching the highest level in about six months. That will likely benefit ethanol demand, where production continued to hold at a record pace last week.

The USDA reported corn export sales for the week ending Jan. 22 at 1.65 MMT, down from the lofty 4.01 MMT the previous week. Japan rose to the top of the sales sheet last week, followed by Mexico and Colombia.

Weather models point toward continued dryness in major parts of Argentina over the next two weeks. Crop conditions from the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange later today are expected to show further decreases in conditions for developing crops.

SOYBEANS
March soybean futures rallied to resistance levels on Wednesday, but a failure to hold onto those gains left prices 7.75 cents higher at $10.75. Futures did run up to resistance again overnight, with bean meal futures providing some help.

U.S. soybean export sales fell from their marketing-year high last week to 819,000 MT. China remained the largest buyer, but sales were disappointing compared to the previous week.

The four-year low in the U.S. dollar this week will likely help some soybean export demand among non-China buyers. Brazil’s soybeans are still competitively priced against the U.S.

Weather concerns in South American, particularly Argentina, could continue to support soybeans through this week. Global soybean crush remains high among major exports.

WHEAT
The wheat complex continued to lead the grains higher this week, with March Chicago wheat trading 12.75 cents higher on Wednesday to $5.36 a bushel.

Much of this week’s gains have likely been speculative short-covering. As noted earlier this week, a move above the 100-day moving average could trigger additional buying, which continued to occur overnight.

Export sales during the week ending Jan. 22 remained strong despite declining on the week. Volumes totaled 579,600 MT and held above the five-year average. Large sales were reported for Japan, Mexico, and Nigeria.

U.S. HRW wheat export prices have been rallying compared to other global competitors over the past month. Demand for HRW wheat has been higher than other major varieties recently, as accounted for a large portion of last week’s sales.
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PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. FUTURES TRADING INVOLVES SUBSTANTIAL RISK AND IS NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL INVESTORS.