Corn and Beans Hold Last Week

Corn prices were just marking time last week until Friday morning when the USDA released one of the biggest reports of the year! I was getting worried when corn prices began selling off at 10:30 with the report due to be released at 11:00 am. Either some traders knew or were guessing the report would be bearish as the corn market was on it's lows down 6 cents when the report was released. The USDA was very bearish but yet corn prices actually closed 2 to 3 cents higher on the day!

It was the same story for beans, trading lower going into the report, bearish numbers from the USDA but yet bean prices recovered to close a couple cents higher. Maybe the bearish numbers were already in the market? So, where do we go from here? There is an old phrase in the grain markets. "Maybe the bear market is over when bearish news does not make the market go lower." I don't thing we can say the bearish market is over but maybe there is hope?

Plus, at this point at least, that China delegation is going to be in Washington D.C. on Wednesday to sign the Phase One Trade Deal plus the weather is a little less than perfect in South America. Finally, there is the extremely tight corn and bean basis. I am still trying to figure out what that means for corn and bean prices in the spring and summer?