By Kirk Maltais

--Soybeans for July delivery gained 1.8% to settle at $9.12 3/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Monday, as traders appeared to be covering shorts on concerns that wet conditions could delay planting.

--Corn for July delivery rose 0.4% to $4.54 3/4 a bushel.

--Wheat for July delivery rose 0.2% to $5.39 1/2 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Break Out: Soybeans surged past the $9-a-bushel mark to hit their highest level in more than two months. Traders appear to becoming more interested in soybeans now that the wheat and corn crops are mostly planted. "Funds are likely to slow their aggressive purchases of corn/wheat heading into the end of June," AgResource said. Forecasters are calling for moderate to heavy rain in all but the northern Midwest over the next seven days.

Pause Button: Last week's rally in corn futures took a break to allow traders to lock in profits. "It's probably just a sense of exhaustion," says Dan Hueber of the Hueber Report. "[Corn futures] are going to give and take from here, this puts a little dose of reality back in there."

Crush Misses Estimates: The amount of soybeans crushed in May totaled 154.796 million bushels, down from April's 159.99 million bushels and about 5% below the same time last year, according to data from the National Oilseed Processors Association. Analyst estimates for this month averaged 162.474 million bushels.

INSIGHT

The Cow's in the Corn: August live cattle futures rose courtesy of the milquetoast corn prices. The two markets have been especially linked by traders in the past week, with livestock traders viewing higher feedstock prices as bearish for cattle. Live cattle futures finished trading Monday up 1.3% at $1.05625 a pound.

Inspections: Grain export inspections clocked in on the low end of trader expectations this week, according to USDA data. For soybeans, China remains the main destination, which may inspire some bullish sentiment for traders worn out by the trade dispute between the U.S. and China. According to the report, 274,918 metric tons of beans were destined for China, out of the 675,302 tons inspected.

Corteva Surges: Corteva led the S&P 500 higher, gaining 2.6% to $25.85 after Deutsche Bank upgraded the agriculture company to buy from hold. "The primary reason [for shares losing 11% since trading began June 1] is an unprecedented U.S. growing season due to record rainfall and flooding in the Midwest," analysts said, adding that U.S.-China trade tensions and perfluorooctanoic acid liabilities also weigh on the stock.

AHEAD

--The EIA releases its weekly update on ethanol production and inventories at 10:30 a.m. EDT on Wednesday.

--The USDA releases its export sales report at 8:30 a.m. EDT Thursday.

--Francesca Fontana contributed to this article.

Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 17, 2019 16:17 ET (20:17 GMT)

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