Markets Slightly Lower

Corn was under pressure in the overnight session and this morning before recovering most of the losses to close just a penny lower. Crude oil was sharply lower and there is rain in the forecast for dry areas in Argentina, and that gave the bears the advantage. The Dollar Index was down about 400 points and that seemed to allow corn to rally back a bit. Export Loadings were 681,897 MT, which was an OK number. It was actually up about 14 percent from the previous week but not high enough to get the market to pay attention.

Beans traded down about 6-7 cents, but like corn closed off the lows down only 2-3 cents. Export Loadings came in at 1.153 MMT, down 4 percent from the previous week, and year to date Loadings are 12.5 percent behind last year's pace. China released manufacturing data that was termed disappointing and that renewed fears of decreased demand for our beans. Beans and corn continue to be range bound and we still need a spark to break through to the up side.