DTN Early Word Grains 03/18 05:55

DTN Early Word Grains 03/18 05:55 Grains Showing Gains Again Early Friday May corn was less than 1 cent higher, May soybeans were 3 cents higher, and July Kansas City wheat was fractionally lower. By Darin Newsom DTN Senior Analyst 6:00 a.m. CME Globex: May corn was less than 1 cent higher, May soybeans were 3 cents higher, and July Kansas City wheat was fractionally lower. CME Globex Recap: Grains were trading higher early Friday morning with the more interesting move in soybeans. There contracts had rallied as much as 7 cents before pulling back slightly. Corn was quiet again as wheat did little to regain Thursday's sell-off. Outside commodities were mostly lower with both crude oil and gold posting losses. Some of this was due to pressure from a stronger U.S. dollar index tied to renewed concerns over Japan's economy and the subsequent weakening of the yen. OUTSIDE MARKETS: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 155.73 points higher at 17,481.49; the NASDAQ Composite was up 11.01 points at 4,774.98, while the S&P 500 rallied 13.37 points to close at 2,040.59 Thursday. DJIA futures were 45 points higher overnight. Asian markets were mostly higher though the Nikkei was down another 211.57 points (1.3%) while China's Shanghai Composite rallied 50.32 points (1.7%). European markets were mixed with London's FTSE 100 up 13.32 points (0.2%). The U.S. dollar index was up 0.309 at 95.069. Crude oil was down $0.20 at $40.00 while Brent crude fell $0.28 to $41.26. April gold was $9.90 lower at $1,255.10. China's Dalian soybean futures were mostly higher while Malaysian palm oil futures were higher.