Ag markets close lower Wednesday

Investors keep a close eye on spread prices, analyst says.

On Wednesday, the CME Group’s farm markets take back some of yesterday’s gains.

At the close, the May corn futures finished 9¾¢ lower at $5.35½. July corn futures finished 8¾¢ lower at $5.24½. New-crop December corn futures settled 2¾¢ lower at $4.73.

May soybean futures closed 5¢ lower at $14.07½. July soybean futures closed 7¼¢ lower at $13.91½. New-crop November soybean futures settled 5¾¢ lower at $12.24.

May wheat futures closed 10¼¢ lower at $6.56.

May soymeal futures finished $2.90 short term lower at $418.80.

May soy oil futures settled 0.12¢ higher at 49.78¢ per pound.

In the outside markets, the NYMEX crude oil market is +1.72 higher (+2.88%) at $61.47. The U.S. dollar is higher, and the Dow Jones Industrials are 26 points higher (+0.08%) at 31,417 points.

Bob Linneman, Kluis Advisors, says that investors continue to eye the change in price between futures contracts.

In a daily note to customers, Al Kluis states, “The spread between the March and May corn went wild on Tuesday. The spread opened at 9.25¢ and traded up to 16¢. A week ago the spread was at 0. Interesting things can happen to contracts when they enter the delivery window. If this spread continues to widen, then will that give the bulls enough momentum to keep pushing higher?”

Kluis added, “The USDA daily export sales report on Tuesday morning announced a 175,000-metric-ton corn sale to Japan. This is great news for the corn bulls, since the daily reports have been rather quiet the past few weeks. Many of the corn bulls are hoping that the weekly sales report on Thursday will revert to data levels seen before China went on holiday. The soybean market was able to bounce higher after coming within a nickel of moving average support. The soybean bulls need to get back in a rhythm of making higher highs and higher lows, or the bearish crowd may push through support the next time we get there.”

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Tags: soybean futures, CME Group, CME Group's farm markets, soy oil futures