By Kirk Maltais

-- Corn for July delivery fell 2% to $4.41 a bushel at the Chicago Board of Trade on Wednesday as traders grapple with their unanswered questions about crop acreage as a result of the waterlogged Midwestern soil.

-- Wheat for July delivery fell 1.7% to $5.22 1/4 a bushel.

-- Soybeans for July delivery fell 1.1% to $9.03 1/4 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Dry Days: A break from the streak of wet weather in the Midwest weighed on grains futures Wednesday.

"To highlight the uniqueness of 2019, a drier forecast on June 19 is viewed as bearish," says Doug Bergman of RCM Alternatives. Both wheat and soybean movement is being led by corn, he said, making the movement of the market dependent on how much less supply traders think will be available for the 2019-20 marketing year.

Traders say that more rain in the Midwest would limit farmers' ability to plant more than it has already, forcing buyers to eat into inventories built up from the previous year.

Fed Decision: The decision of the Federal Reserve to keep the fed-funds range unchanged at 2.25%-2.50% caused little movement in grains futures. In a statement accompanying the 2 p.m. EDT announcement, the Federal Reserve is no longer taking a "patient" stance, indicating a possible rate cut later this year and suggesting anticipated economic weakness.

INSIGHT

Apprehension: Despite the new wave of optimism surrounding news that President Trump and Chinese President Xi will meet at the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, next week, grains traders are impatient to see results from the talks.

"Although President Trump sounds optimistic on a U.S.-China trade deal, the ag markets are more pensive -- being down this track once before," says AgResource. "Ag traders are unlikely to react to U.S.-China trade talk until a deal is signed."

Leading grains down were wheat futures, which AgResource attributes to be too high-priced for buyers such as Egypt to consider buying instead of from Russian or Eastern European competition.

Ethanol Drops: U.S. production of ethanol declined this week, falling 1.6% to 1.081 million barrels per day. Despite the slip, the decline didn't completely eat the gains posted in ethanol production last week of 4.2%.

Meanwhile, ethanol inventories totaled 21.613 million barrels, the lowest level in over a year. Despite the seemingly bullish data, markets didn't react.

Ethanol is tied to corn prices since it is used to produce ethanol.

AHEAD

-- The USDA is scheduled to release its latest weekly export sales at 8:30 a.m. EDT Thursday.

-- The USDA is scheduled to issue its monthly Cattle on Feed Report at 3 p.m. EDT Friday.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 19, 2019 15:59 ET (19:59 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.