DTN Midday Grain Comments 02/18 11:28

DTN Midday Grain Comments 02/18 11:28 Wheat, Corn Higher at Midday Corn is 3 to 4 cents higher at midday, soybeans are narrowly mixed, and wheat is 7 to 15 cents higher. By David Fiala DTN Contributing Analyst General Comments The U.S. stock market is weaker with the Dow down 270. The dollar index is 20 higher. Interest rate products are weaker. Energies are mixed with crude down $0.50. Livestock trade is mostly lower. Precious metals are firmer with gold up $19.00. CORN Corn trade is 3 to 4 cents higher at midday to open the week, with trade extending the streak of hitting $3.80 during the session to 13 in a row with the early buying. Ethanol margins are little changed with ethanol futures flat to start the week. Corn basis remains steady to slightly softer, with little change in recent days but more open weather should help movement along with March basis contracts coming due. Weekly export inspections showed improvement at 795,228 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 $3.83 which we remain just below. SOYBEANS Soybean trade is narrowly mixed with trade finding light buying with China relaxing more tariffs as part of the trade process, along with the expectations of new bookings for fall but they have yet to appear. Meal is flat to $1.00 higher, and oil is narrowly mixed. South America continues to make good progress with weather and harvest moving forward with little change on the horizon with some rains delays in Brazil last week. The Brazilian ral remains very cheap as well hurting U.S. export competitiveness near term with the end-of-week gains evaporating again. New-crop soybeans will need to gain vs. corn to provide an acreage incentive ahead of planting in the U.S. as well with some gains last week. Weekly export inspections were in line with recent weeks at 992,294 metric tons. The March soybean chart support is the 20-day moving average at $8.91, with resistance $9.00 nearby. WHEAT Wheat trade is 7 to 16 cents higher at midday with Chicago gapping higher overnight to lead action with further reductions to the Australian crop headlining the news to open the week. Weather threats for the Plains remain limited near term domestically with limited short term moisture across most of the Plains. Kansas City is at a 83-cent discount to Chicago, regaining a dime the last few days while Minneapolis is back to an 19 cent discount as well. World values remain mostly elevated with Chicago wheat expensive, and Kansas City wheat on the low end with Black Sea and European origin still the better deals for Middle East tenders. Weekly export inspections were better at 501,990 metric tons. The March Kansas City chart support the lower Bollinger band at $4.55, with resistance the 20-day at $4.74. 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.