TOP STORIES:

Grain, Soybean Futures Find Footing After Selloff

Grain and soybean futures consolidated on Tuesday after starting the week with sharp losses.

Analysts said that chart signals suggested to some traders prices had fallen too far in recent sessions, helping to spark some limited buying interest.

Tax Law Fix Still Under Negotiation in Congress -- Market Talk

14:58 ET - A proposal to resolve an error known as the "grain glitch" in December's tax law remained in limbo Tuesday afternoon as lawmakers negotiated. There is bipartisan agreement to scale back the inadvertent tax benefit for farmers who sell to cooperatives. But Democrats' proposed trade-off -- an expansion of the low-income housing tax credit -- has met resistance among Republicans. "It's been dead, revived, dead, revived," said Sen John Thune (R, SD), who said he hoped a deal could come together soon. (richard.rubin@wsj.com; @RichardRubinDC)

STORIES OF INTEREST:

Monsanto Spreads Bets on Gene Editing -- Market Talk

10:57 ET - As agriculture companies jockey to develop gene-editing technologies like Crispr-Cas9 for improving crops, Monsanto is betting on scientists both inside and outside the world's largest seed company. Pairwise Plants, a startup focused on gene editing, aims to develop new corn, soybean, wheat, cotton and canola varieties exclusively with Monsanto. The deal includes a $100M investment from Monsanto, which has already taken a minority stake in Pairwise via its Monsanto Growth Ventures unit, and Monsanto's global biotechnology head Tom Adams will lead Pairwise as CEO. (jacob.bunge@wsj.com; @jacobbunge)

USDA Says 110,000 Tons of Corn Sold to Peru in 2017-2018

WASHINGTON--Private exporters reported to the U.S. Department of Agriculture export sales of 110,000 metric tons of corn for delivery to Peru during the 2017/2018 marketing year.

The marketing year for corn began Sept. 1.

U.S. Farmers Face Another Breakeven Year -- Market Talk

08:35 ET - U.S. corn and soybean farmers confront another year of breaking even on their crops, Bernstein analysts say, absent any supply or demand shocks. That's a return to the norm, the firm says, describing a 40-year economic cycle for farm economics that includes 30-35 years in "a breakeven environment." Last year was a similar case for U.S. farmers who pay to rent fields, Bernstein says, with sagging profitability offset by higher corn yields and rising soybean prices. Look for seed companies to raise prices by 5% or less, while fertilizer producers should see sales rise by 2% to 3%, Bernstein says. (jacob.bunge@wsj.com; @jacobbunge)

THE MARKETS:

Funds Sour on American Meat

Cattle and hog futures probed new multimonth lows on Tuesday.

Both markets have tumbled in recent sessions on everything from domestic oversupply of livestock to concerns that trade tensions will disrupt global demand for U.S. meat.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 20, 2018 17:25 ET (21:25 GMT)

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