Grains were higher overnight with corn and wheat up 2 cents while soybeans were up 4 cents. In outside markets, the US dollar continued to move lower giving up 0.5% after losing 1.6% yesterday, which is supportive for grains. Stock futures were drifting lower as was crude oil. Silver and gold futures were still on the rise as economic risk leads to investors turning to safe havens of precious metals.
On Wednesday, EIA’s weekly ethanol report showed production off 2,000 BPD to 959,000 bpd, while stocks climbed sharply by almost 1 million barrels to 22.36 million barrels on the week. Overnight, Brazil’s Conab pegged the soy crop at 100.9 MMT, which was lower than their previous estimate of 102.1 in January, but still slightly higher than USDA’s estimate of 100.0. Conab sees Brazil’s corn crop at 83.3 MMT vs 82.3 MMT in January and USDA at 81.5 MMT.
Algeria's state grains agency OAIC bought between 450,000 MT and 500,000 MT of optional-origin milling wheat in a tender this week, European traders said on Thursday. OAIC paid around $178 a MT, cost and freight included, for the wheat, which was likely to be sourced in France and also partly in the UK.
Crude oil was up sharply on Wednesday gaining $2 a barrel on the US dollar plunge as well as news that Venezuela was looking to enter into talks with other nations to reduce output. However, the warning flag on oversupply continues to get deeper in the red as EIA crude oil stocks showed that weekly US crude oil inventories were up 7.8 million barrels when analysts only expected a 4.8 increase. Likewise, gasoline stocks ballooned by 5.9 million barrels compared to only a 1.7 million barrel increase that was expected.
The US dollar was back on the defensive in early trade in Europe after a collapse in expectations of a further rise in U.S. interest rates this year drove its biggest daily fall in over two months on Wednesday. Against a basket of currencies, the greenback fell another 0.5 percent to 96.796, it’s lowest since early November. The euro hit a 3-1/2 month high of $1.1161 EUR=EBS, extending its gains from an explosive sell-off a day earlier.
WEEKLY EXPORT SALES
Actual Expected Last Week
Corn 1,129 800-1,000 817
Soybeans -43 400-600 647
Wheat 66 200-400 294
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