(Agriculture.com) – Positioning and speculative liquidation sharply dropped the CME Group corn, soybean and wheat markets Wednesday.
The May corn futures settled 15 1/4 cents lower at $6.38 3/4. The May soybean contract ended 8 1/2 cents lower at $13.26 3/4. The May wheat futures closed 18 1/2 cents lower at $6.39 1/4. The May soymeal futures settled $1.40 per short ton lower at $364.50. The May soyoil futures finished $0.30 lower at $52.98.
In the outside markets, the NYMEX crude oil is $1.67 per barrel higher, the dollar is lower and the Dow Jones Industrials are up 82 points.
Jack Scoville, PRICE Futures Group vice president, says very little fresh news and positioning ahead of Friday’s USDA Report is keeping things quiet.
“Not much going on today, which I think is the problem. We have no confirmation of talk China was buying soybeans yesterday, and I think we are seeing some spec long liquidation. Corn and wheat news is also quiet, and I think specs are selling there as well,” Scoville says. Farmers are quiet, or at least they are not burdening their brokers with orders, he says.
“People look for bullish numbers on Friday, but we want to see demand coming here instead of somewhere else for all markets. So far, no news from USDA makes one wonder where the demand is. Economic news was positive today but we seem to be ignoring it so far. Waiting on bigger data later this week as well. So, I think people are getting out and waiting for the end of the week,” he says.
