Corn did trade higher early in the day session on support from a rally in the Dow and crude oil. However those gains disappeared and corn closed 1-2 cents lower. The Energy Information Administration released the weekly ethanol production report that was termed "disappointing." Ethanol production was down 20,000 barrels a day from the previous week. Traders forgot that the previous week's production was the second-highest ethanol production on record!

Beans closed about 4 cents higher Thursday, recovering about half of Wednesday's losses. I am finally starting to read news reports of "hot and dry" areas expected in parts of South America. There is no doubt South America is going to have a big crop this year. The question, is it an all-time record by a lot? I suspect it is not as big as the traders are thinking. Near the end of the overnight session we have corn and beans firmer. It would be nice if that were the case this afternoon when the markets close.

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