DTN Midday Grain Comments 02/10 11:03

DTN Midday Grain Comments 02/10 11:03 Corn, Wheat Lower at Midday The U.S. stock market is weaker with the Dow down 170. The dollar index is 20 points higher. Interest rate products are weaker. Energies are flat with crude unchanged. Livestock trade is mostly higher led by hogs. Precious metals are flat to weaker with gold unchanged. By David Fiala DTN Contributing Analyst General Comments Corn, Wheat Lower at Midday The U.S. stock market is weaker with the Dow up 70. The dollar index is 17 points higher. Interest rate products are weaker. Energies are flat with crude down $0.35. Livestock trade is mostly lower. Precious metals are mixed with gold up $5.00. CORN Corn trade is 3 to 4 cents lower at midday with choppy trade continuing as we work near the lower end of the range again with broadly positive news still in short supply. Ethanol margins remain soft, with the energy complex remaining weak, narrowing blender margins along with producer margins as we get closer to spring driving season with flat futures this a.m. Corn basis remains steady to firm, with little change in recent days but more open weather should help movement. Weekly export inspections showed a little improvement at 769,390 metric tons. On the March contract support is the lower Bollinger Band and the fresh lows at $3.75, then the $3.71 four-month low, with resistance at the $3.94 recent 2 1/2 month high with the 20-day just above the market at $3.84. SOYBEANS Soybeans trade is 4 to 5 cents higher at midday with light buying as trade has tested the upper end of the recent trade but has been unable to push through. Meal is $4.00 to $5.00 higher, and oil is 30 to 40 points lower. South America continues to make good progress with weather and harvest moving forward with little change on the horizon. The Brazilian ral remains very cheap as well hurting U.S. export competitiveness near term, with their values sliding and nearby offers well under U.S. values for springtime slots with China actively sourcing from Brazil. Weekly export inspections slumped a bit at 603,852 metric tons. The March soybean chart support is the $8.56 lower Bollinger Band, with resistance well above the market at the $9.00 level. WHEAT Wheat trade is 2 to 6 cents lower with trade still working to build support at the lower end of the range after the positive close to last week with KC unable to hold positive action so far this a.m. Weather threats for the Plains remain limited near term domestically with limited short-term moisture across most of the plains. KC is at a 82-cent discount to Chicago, a dime off the recent highs, while Minneapolis is back to a 19-cent discount with mostly steady action this week. World values remain mostly elevated with Chicago wheat expensive, and Kansas City wheat on the low end. Weekly export inspections remain slow at 523,713 metric tons. The March Kansas City chart support the lower Bollinger Band at $4.58, with resistance the 20-day at $4.82. 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 him on Twitter @davidfiala (AG) Copyright 2020 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.