DTN Midday Grain Comments 03/30 11:40

DTN Midday Grain Comments 03/30 11:40 Corn Flat to Lower, Soy Lower, Wheat Mixed at Midday Trade continues to drift lower. By David Fiala DTN Contributing Analyst General Comments The U.S. stock market indices are higher with the Dow futures up 80 points. The interest rate products are lower. The dollar index is 15 points higher. Energies are higher with crude up $.80. Livestock trade is mixed with cattle sharply lower. Precious metals are mixed with gold down $4.50. CORN Corn trade is flat to 1 cent lower at midday, drifting along the low end of the range ahead of the USDA report Friday. We favor friendly corn acreage numbers on Friday, but with beans lower and if they have a bearish number, corn could be pulled lower by beans. Trade has priced in plenty of negative information ahead of the coming report. Ethanol margins remain stable this morning and are likely to stay range bound. The weekly export sales were a bit softer at 716,900 metric tons of old crop, and 125,000 of new. Friday we will see two big USDA numbers: the March Planting Intentions and March Quarterly Grain Stocks report. The average acre guess is 91.034 million acres with a range of 89.7 ma to 92.5 ma. March 1 Quarterly stocks are expected to be at 8.534 billion bushels on a range of 8.205 billion to 8.9 billion bushels; this is up from 7.822 billion a year ago. Once we are past Friday, the focus should be on planting and early field work weather. On the May chart support is at the $3.52 late December low. Resistance is the 10-day at $3.59, which we tested overnight; next resistance is the 20-day at $3.64. SOYBEANS Soybean trade is 3 to 7 cents lower at midday with trade grinding into new lows for the move. Meal is flat to $1 lower and oil is 30 to 40 points lower. Chart pressure and heavy supply side fundamentals continue to weigh on beans. Long liquidation does appear to be carrying trade lower versus expectations for bearish USDA numbers on Friday. This pressure is pricing-in some bigger acreage. The average trade guess for 2017 U.S. soybean acreage is at 88.128 million acres; the range of estimates is 85.9 million to 90.2 million. March 1 Quarterly stocks are expected to be at 1.684 billion bushels, with a range of 1.627 billion to 1.885 billion bushels. The weekly export sales were good seasonally at 681,000 metric tons of old crop, 315,600 of new crop with 162,600 of meal, and 12,500 of oil. On the May soybean chart, nearby support is hard to identify with this lower trend. The one-year low is at $9.37 1/4, which is key chart support at this juncture with fresh lows for the move made this morning at $9.61. Resistance is at the 10-day and lowest major moving average at $9.84. WHEAT Wheat trade is mixed overnight with Minneapolis being the leader again overnight. A little more follow-up rain is expected in the near term with good coverage for most of the hard red wheat belt out of the prior systems. Warmer weather should continue to push growth; the eight- to 14-day forecast looks warmer and drier for much of the belt. Cold threats appear limited, and then once we are in the second week of April, we are moving out of frost or freeze risk. The weekly export sales were OK at 464,100 metric tons of old crop, and 163,500 of new crop. The quarterly report stocks are expected to be 1.627 billion bushels, with a range of 1.450 billion to 1.721 billion. Spring wheat acreage is expected to be at 11.27 million acres with a range of 9.9 million to 12.2 million versus the 11.605 million 2016 acreage. On the May KC contract, support is at the daily low at $4.18 3/4, then the $4.11 1/2, contract low. Resistance is at the 10-day at $4.31. Wheat is now over 50 cents below our nine-month high printed in mid-February and not far from the contract lows; this echoes the large historic supply side fundamentals we have for wheat. The stocks report on Friday will be a reminder of that. 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 (ES) Copyright 2017 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.