Markets are trading mixed overnight in a relatively quiet trade with May beans grinding higher ahead of option expiration on Friday while corn and wheat are sitting near the lows that we’ve seen this week.

Managed funds on Wednesday were estimated as net sellers of 6k corn to reduce the net long to 109k, net buyers of 4k beans to push the net long to 32k, and net sellers of 4k wheat to push the net short out to 103k.

Weekly export sales for wheat came in at -145 tmt (-150-200 expected), n/c wheat 371.7 tmt (100-300), corn 1,152.9 tmt (800-1,300), n/c corn 0 (0-100), beans 277 tmt (200-600), n/c beans -.1 (0-200), meal 170.9 tmt (150-350), n/c meal 5.3 tmt (0-50), oil 12.4 (5-25), and n/c oil 0 (0-10).

Net cancellations for old crop wheat were not a major surprise with new crop wheat sales better than expected. Corn/bean sales were within the range of expectations.

Weekly EIA data showed ethanol production up 21k bbls per day to1,033k bbls. Stocks were off by 1,333k bbls to 25,481k bbls. Weekly production of 304m gallons was just below the pace necessary to hit the USDA’s usage forecast.

The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange forecast a dry week for harvest after wet weather has recently caused delays. Farmer selling has been delayed by the slow harvest with sales 23.4%, which is the slowest pace for that date in ten years.

The U.S.$ is pulling back this morning after bouncing from lows the last two days. In other currency move, the Brazilian Real is strengthening again vs. the U.S.$ to add support to the bean market.

Corn posted a lower low, lower high, and lower close on Wednesday with the market continuing to correct the rally from early April. The overbought condition has eased with the market well-balanced. Support for July is at 4.70 and resistance now at 4.97.

Beans posted a higher high, higher low, and higher close on Wednesday with the market bumping into resistance at the top of the consolidation range yesterday and again overnight. The market is overbought after recent gains. Support for July is 10.37 and resistance 10.59.

Corn has pulled back this week on a forecast that should allow the U.S. crop to go in timely with an improving moisture outlook for the driest areas of the corn-belt. With expectations for large corn area, the U.S. new crop balance sheets are expected to be comfortable. With that said, we still have tightness in old crop supplies, which is expected to support the market on pullbacks. Producers should look at optional strategies to protect the downside in new crop corn.

Beans continue to find speculative buying interest with optimism that the U.S./China trade war will be resolved sooner than later. Managed funds have built up a small net long position in a short amount of time. The concern after their recent buying is that global bean stocks are at record levels regardless of if there is a trade war going on or not. Producers should make sure old crop sales are caught up after recent gains as Brazil is set to dominate global markets in the coming weeks. The outlook for new crop beans is a little better due to expectations for small U.S. bean area.

Corn up 1

Beans up 2-5