DTN Midday Grain Comments 04/03 11:22

DTN Midday Grain Comments 04/03 11:22 Midday Corn, Soybeans Lower; Wheat Higher Corn futures are 2 to 3 cents lower, soybeans are 2 to 5 cents lower, and wheat is 4 to 8 cents higher. By David Fiala DTN Contributing Analyst General Comments The U.S. stock market is weaker with the Dow down 285 points. The dollar index is 60 points higher. Interest rate products are higher. Energies are firmer with crude 1.30 higher. Livestock trade is mostly lower. Precious metals are mixed with gold down 1.70. CORN Corn futures are 2 to 3 cents lower at midday as early buying faded; new-crop trade is holding up better. Ethanol margins remain very poor, with unleaded bouncing a bit as the energy complex finds support on talk of production cuts overall, but we are still a ways from finding a current level of demand. Corn basis will likely remain sideways for now with much of the slowdowns priced in at this point. Rains will keep early fieldwork slow with warmer weather likely next week. China bought 567,000 metric tons (mt) of mostly new-crop corn. On the May contract, support is the lower Bollinger band at $3.23 and resistance the 20-day moving average at $3.50. SOYBEANS Soybean futures are 2 to 5 cents lower with early buying fading and meal weakness weighing on the market. Meal is $5.00 to $6.00 lower and oil is 20 to 30 points higher. South America is continuing to harvest with port disruptions the biggest concern, while the real remains very weak with some revision lower on production due to late dryness. New-crop soybeans will need to gain vs. corn to provide an acreage incentive with the price ratio failing to extend past 2.4 with time running down to make changes. The May soybean chart support is the gap at $8.41 with resistance the 20-day moving average at $8.63. WHEAT Wheat futures are 4 to 8 cents higher at midday with active trade getting back Thursday's losses overnight, but continuing to struggle to sustain overnight action as freezing temps moved across the Plains. There has been talk of new Middle East import tenders short term, but otherwise world export news is lacking. KC is at a 78-cent discount to Chicago on the May with choppy trade continuing, while Minneapolis is -23 with narrower action this week. The May KC chart support is the 20-day moving average at $4.62, with resistance the $5.13 upper Bollinger Band. 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.