Corn falls for first time in four sessions on record U.S. output

August 14th, 2014

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Category: Grains, Oilseeds

(Reuters) – U.S. corn futures fell for the first time in four sessions on Thursday as record U.S. production weighed on prices, despite the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s crop estimate coming in below market expectations.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Chicago Board Of Trade December corn fell 0.6 percent to $3.67-1/2 a bushel, having gained 0.2 percent in the previous session.

* November soybeans rose 0.2 percent to $10.49 a bushel, having slid 1.2 percent on Wednesday.

* September wheat rose 0.1 percent to $5.28-3/4 a bushel, having closed down 1.9 percent on Wednesday.

* Forecasts for rain in some of the drier areas of the U.S. Midwest raised expectations that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will boost its soybean production forecast in the coming months.

* The USDA on Tuesday pegged the U.S. corn harvest at a record 14.032 billion bushels, below analysts’ estimates of 14.253 billion, and 2014/15 ending stocks at 1.808 billion bushels, below expectations of 2.005 billion.

* The USDA estimated the U.S. soybean crop at a record of 3.82 billion bushels, up 16 percent on the year and close to trade expectations.

* Traders awaiting weekly USDA export report on Thursday. Analysts expect old-crop soybean export sales in a range from zero to 100,000 tonnes and new-crop soybean export sales between 850,000 and 1.05 million tonnes.

MARKET NEWS

* Sterling languished at four-month lows early on Thursday, having taken the honours of the worst-performing major currency after the Bank of England signalled it was in no hurry to raise interest rates.

*  Brent crude oil rose by nearly $1 per barrel in choppy trading on Wednesday, recovering from a 13-month low as turmoil in Iraq and Libya kept concerns about potential supply disruptions in focus.

* U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average returning to positive territory for the year, as surging biotech shares helped investors shrug off disappointing retail sales data.

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