DTN Early Word Grains 12/18 05:53

DTN Early Word Grains 12/18 05:53 Grains Soft After Tuesday Rally March corn is down 1 3/4 cents, January soybeans are down 1 3/4 cents, and March KC wheat is down 4 1/2 cents. By Tregg Cronin DTN Contributing Analyst 6:00 a.m. CME Globex: March corn is down 1 3/4 cents, January soybeans are down 1 3/4 cents, and March KC wheat is down 4 1/2 cents. CME Globex Recap: Subdued equity markets overnight with a big finish expected ahead of the Christmas holiday next week. The balance of the week will see a vote in the House of Representatives on the impeachment of President Trump, a vote on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement and a vote on spending bills to keep the government funded through September 2020. Also noteworthy, after signaling victory on China earlier in the week, the U.S. Trade Representative, Bob Lighthizer, said the Trump administration was ready to escalate its trade confrontation with the European Union. Lighthizer suggested this could mean potentially new tariffs as the administration feels emboldened after favorable outcomes with the USMCA and China in the last two weeks. Grains are taking a breather overnight with weakness across the board. Most contracts made multi-month highs on Tuesday and would be expected to hold gains given the lack of volume due to the holidays. Managed funds are short the ag sector and headlines have turned against that crowd the last two weeks. Even though South American weather remains favorable, the news flow resides with the bulls for now. OUTSIDE MARKETS: Previous closes on Tuesday showed the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 31.27 at 28,267.16 and the S&P 500 up 1.07 at 3,191.45 while the 10-Year Treasury yield ended at 1.889%. Early Wednesday, the December DJIA futures are up 18 points. Asian markets are lower with Japan's Nikkei 225 down 131.69 (-0.55%) and China's Shanghai Composite down 5.38 points (-0.18%). European markets are mixed with London's FTSE 100 up 7.23 points (0.1%), Germany's DAX down 25.17 points (-0.19%) and France's CAC 40 up 8.02 points (0.13%). The March Euro is down 0.002 at 1.120 and the March U.S. dollar index is up 0.073 at 96.850. The March 30-Year T-Bond is up 12/32nds, while February gold is up $2.40 at $1,483.00 and January crude oil is down $0.43 at $60.51. Soybeans on China's Dalian Exchange were down 0.39% while soybean meal was up 0.22%.