DTN Midday Grain Comments 03/29 11:26

DTN Midday Grain Comments 03/29 11:26 All Grains Higher at Midday Grain trade is lightly higher in slow action at midday. By David Fiala DTN Contributing Analyst General Comments The U.S. stock market indices are mixed with the Dow futures down 15 points. The interest rate products are higher. The dollar index is 3 lower. Energies are lower with crude down 1.20. Livestock trade is mixed with hogs higher and cattle lower. Precious metals are higher with gold up $7. CORN Corn trade is 1 to 2 cents higher at midday with a positive bias at midday with the market sitting near the high of a 5 cent trading range. Corn has held a flat but higher trend the past three weeks with some new highs for the move yesterday and again today. Weather will have a bigger effect on what this market does in April and May to either grow our comfortable supplies, or lower them for the 2016-17 crop year. But for this week the market is focused on Thursday. The numbers would need to come out outside of the range of expectations on the low side to spark a rally, and if we acreage would come in at 91 million or higher, we could quickly challenge the contract lows on Thursday. The average trade guess is for the 2016 US corn acreage to be at 90.047 million acres, the range of estimates is 89-91.5 million. The March 1 Corn stocks are expected to be at 7.822 billion bushels versus 7.75 billion a year ago. The range of estimates is 7.745-8.1 billion. On the May chart support is at the 50-day moving average at $3.67 then the 20-day at $3.65. Resistance is at the $3.72 recent high then the 100---day at $3.74. SOYBEANS Soybean trade is 3 ot 4 cents higher at midday with trade near our highs. Bean oil is supporting beans, up 40 points this morning, with the market taking a run at the 9-month highs printed last week. Meal is fractionally mixed finding selling on spreading against bean oil. Crude is down over $1 this morning so outside market influence is not behind this move today in bean oil. On the May soybean chart we moved above all major moving averages last week but have not accelerated up. Support is at the $9.04 200-day moving average which is the highest major moving average. Resistance is at the 3-month high printed yesterday a quarter cent below $9.15 then the 5-month high at $9.17 1/2 followed by the seven-month high at $9.29 1/4. The average trade guess for the 2016 Planting intentions is at 82.95 million acres versu 82.65 a year ago, the range of estimates is 81.6-84.2 million. The quarterly stocks are estimated to be at 1.569 billion bushels versus 1.327 a year ago, the range of expectations is 1.525-1.7. WHEAT Wheat trade is 3 to 5 cents higher across the three markets with support from beans and light follow-through buying following the strength yesterday. Support yesterday came from ongoing weather concerns after cold weather in the U.S. , and potential for a cold snap in Russia, although Russian temperatures have moderated. Plains weather is expected to remain fairly dry as well, with some potential uptick in the extended forecast. The Kansas weekly crop ratings were 57% good to excellent down 1 percentage point. The full reports should start next Monday, April 4. World supplies remain ample which will limit bigger rallies even with the U.S. acreage down. The average trade guess for the total wheat planted acreate is at 51.659 million acres versus 54.644 a year ago. Spring wheat is only expected to be down slightly at 12.905 million versus 13.246 million a year ago. The March 1 Quarterly stocks are expected to be at a large 1.356 billion versus 1.140 billion bushels last March. On the May Kansas City chart the 50-day moving average at 4.71 is support, with resistance at the $4.82 100-day then the $4.90 1/2 high printed on 3-15. David Fiala is a DTN contributing analyst and the President of FuturesOne and a registered trading adviser. David Fiala can be reached at dfiala@futuresone.com Follow David Fiala on Twitter @davidfiala (BAS) Copyright 2016 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.