DTN Midday Grain Comments 08/18 11:36

DTN Midday Grain Comments 08/18 11:36 Grains Lower at Midday Corn printed a new high for the move last night, but we are lower at midday. By David Fiala DTN Contributing Analyst General Comments The U.S. stock market indices are narrowly mixed. The interest rate products are higher. The dollar index is 40 points lower. Energies are higher with gold up $7. Livestock trade is lower. Precious metals are higher with gold up $7. CORN Corn trade is 2 lower at midday, which has us about a nickel below the two-week high printed overnight. The weekly export sales were 167,400 tons of old crop, a marketing-year low, and 1.043 million tons of new crop. So the sales were good but not great, illustrated by our lower futures. The weight of this large, record crop and seasonal harvest pressures ahead are going to limit buyers on bounces. The overnight high was 20 cents above the contract low printed right after the bearish USDA monthly report on Friday. December chart support is the 20-day at $3.36 1/2, then the $3.22 1/2 contract low. Resistance is at $3.42, then $3.46, followed by the 50-day at $3.67. SOYBEANS Soybean futures were higher briefly then found selling overnight; midday trade is 7 to 9 cents lower, meal is off $3 and bean oil is down 13 points. Trade is slow, illustrating the market wants to see a trading range around $10 on new crop, awaiting crop tour and real harvest yield projections to see if they match up with the USDA August number. The weekly sales were great again, which has limited downside. USDA's improved usage estimates for new crop virtually matched up neck-and-neck with the larger-than-expected usage increase, which supports sideways futures trade the rest of the month. New-crop soybean sales this morning on the weekly report were listed at 1.6 million tons, with old crop at 177,900 tons. Meal sales were 121,400 tons of old crop and 191,700 tons of new. Bean oil sales were 3,900 tons of old. Weather is viewed as neutral with outside markets friendly today, which favors our futures moving back toward unchanged this afternoon. On the November soybean chart, trade has support at $10 with the 10-day at $9.93 below that. The 100-day at $10.22 is nearby resistance, then the 50-day at $10.56. WHEAT Wheat trade flat to 2 cents lower at midday; futures trade has been narrowly mixed across the three markets this morning. The higher-protein wheat is finding strong demand amidst a low-protein harvest year, especially with France having to import milling wheat. This should help Minneapolis futures see support, but winter wheat contracts may struggle. The weekly export sales came in at 489,500 tons, which was neutral. On the KC December chart, support is at the $4.38 level where the 10-day and 20-day moving averages, then the $4.24 contract low. Resistance is at the $4.46 August high, then the $4.53 50-day. 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.