Markets: Corn Firmer Beans Lower

Corn closed just slightly firmer today which was a bit disappointing after trading about 7 cents higher at one point. The close was at the low end of the daily trading range. Corn has rallied about 90 cents a bushel so it appears we are in a consolidation range. I also read farmer selling has picked up so there was probably some commercial hedging as they offset the corn they bought in the cash market. Some traders are talking about 20 to 30 percent of the corn crop is at risk because of too much rain. I read an interesting point that plant breeders have bred corn to tolerate drought, not too wet.

Beans closed 3 to 6 cents lower which was really a disappointment after trading 15 to 20 cents higher. There was not a lot of news for traders to digest today other than more rain on the radar. This morning the Southern half of Iowa and some of Illinois were in a flash flood watch. It seems like beans are in a consolidation phase like corn.