Grains Show Strength Late Last Week

Corn managed to close out last week on the positive side with gains of 2 to 3 cents a bushel. It was also encouraging that most contracts finished only a quarter cent off the highs of the day. About the time the grain markets closed Friday afternoon the Senate voted to reopen the Federal Government. However, we have no idea how the USDA will handle the export sales announcements and the January Supply Demand Report or the stocks report!

Soybeans saw some strength on Friday too closing with gains of 7 to 9 a bushel. With the USDA now open maybe we will find out just how many million bushels of soybeans China has bought since the partial Federal Government shutdown began. Whenever we get the January crop report it is going to be interesting to see what the USDA does with the South American crop. Brazil has had hot and dry conditions in key growing areas and parts of Argentina have had flooding rains.