DTN Midday Grain Comments 12/08 11:39

DTN Midday Grain Comments 12/08 11:39 Corn, Beans Lower at Midday Chart momentum turned to the defensive for beans; futures are nearly down 25 cents at midday. By David Fiala DTN Contributing Analyst General Comments The U.S. stock market indices are higher with the Dow futures up 65. The interest rate products are lower. The dollar index is 80 points higher. Energies are mixed. Livestock has cattle lower and hogs higher. Precious metals are lower with gold up $5. CORN Corn trade is 7 lower at midday with downside momentum due to spillover pressure from beans and the strong dollar. The dollar looks to be giving us an outside day with a higher close possible which would be a bullish chart patter. This is negative for exporting commodities. The weekly export sales number though was higher than expected this morning at 1.495 million metric tons. We have the monthly report tomorrow but no production changes will be on it, and no major change for South American's production is expected. Demand has been good, so flat to slightly lower carryover, very small net changes, are expected. Chart support coming into today is now resistance in the $3.52 1/2 to $3.54 1/2 area where we find the 10-day, 20-day and 50-day moving averages. Support is now down at last week's low at $3.41 3/4. SOYBEANS Soybean trade is 24 cents lower at midday, meal is down $7 and bean oil is down 75 points. We appear to be seeing pressure from long profit taking or exiting here at midday despite some good sales numbers. Brazilian crop estimates are rising even as weather issues linger for South Brazil and Argentina, which may have some production ideas lower in Argentina. It is still too early to be concerned. The 12-15 day forecast was showing some improvement for Argentina but the models remain inconsistent. The dollar strength is the biggest story which has market longs concerned. The weekly export sales were at 1.461 million metric tons. The monthly report tomorrow is expected to show limited changes. On the January chart the 10-day at $10.20 1/2 is now support with resistance at the $10.40 10-day then the $10.65 4-month high. WHEAT Wheat trade is 1 to 5 cents higher at midday with some light buying of wheat with traders exiting spreads where wheat was the short leg against long corn or beans. India dropping import duties until March which should help bolster additional demand. Colder temperatures will have to be watched with limited snow cover but moisture has improved for some areas with the recent systems. This for sure appears to be limiting selling in wheat which is at some low historic prices. Drops around zero or lower that can cause winter kill. The demand for protein will continue to be key market mover on spread trade, and the Southern Hemisphere harvest continues to move along well with Argentina and Australia seeing good yields. The weekly export sales were in the upper half of expectations at 503,100 tons. On the Kansas City March chart support is at the $3.99 3/4 contract low printed Wednesday, resistance is at the $4.12 10-day moving average which is the lowest major moving average. David Fiala is a DTN contributing analyst and the President of FuturesOne and a registered adviser. He can be reached at dfiala@futuresone.com Follow Fiala on Twitter @davidfiala (BAS) Copyright 2016 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.