By Kirk Maltais

--Soybeans for January delivery rose 0.9% to $8.97 1/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Monday, with traders watching for trade news ahead of the Dec. 15 deadline for the U.S. to place new tariffs on Chinese goods.

--Corn for March delivery fell 0.3% to $3.75 3/4 a bushel.

--Wheat for March delivery fell 0.3% to $5.22 3/4 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Manic Monday: Soybeans rose on an unconfirmed report from Reuters, which says Chinese importers purchased at least five bulk cargo shipments of soybeans - 300,000 metric tons."Traders speculate that China is making the soybean purchases as a goodwill gesture with U.S./China negotiations ongoing," AgResource says.

Shorts Exit: Fund investors covered more of their short positions, said Tomm Pfitzenmaier of Summit Commodity Brokerage. "There were likely more than a few traders caught off guard by the larger-than-expected short fund position as reported in the Commitment of Traders report Friday afternoon," Pftizenmaier said. For the week ending Dec. 3, managed money firms added 46,804 short contracts, the CFTC said.

Harvest Help: A new bout of dryness in the central U.S. is allowing farmers in northern states to finish their very late corn harvesting -- which weighed on corn prices Monday. In North Dakota, corn harvesting is listed at only 36% -- by far the lowest percentage of harvested acres nationwide. In a normal year, harvesting is usually finished in the Midwest and elsewhere by October or November. However, ice and snow has slowed progress in North Dakota.

INSIGHT

Waiting on WASDE: Tuesday's WASDE report isn't dominating conversations among grains traders as much as other monthly updates from the USDA this year. "No major changes [are] expected on U.S. or world corn/bean balance sheets," said Doug Bergman of RCM Alternatives. "World wheat stocks are expected to drop on lower Australian production, but the report is expected to be a non-event."

Weak Inspections: Export inspections of corn and wheat totaled 481,097 metric tons and 313,810 tons, respectively, according to USDA data released Monday. Results are weak, particularly for corn - which stays 7% below the pace needed to match USDA estimates for export demand. Wheat, meanwhile, is pacing 1% above USDA expectations. The report was bullish for soybeans with 1.33 million tons inspected for export - 830,783 tons of which were destined for China.

AHEAD:

-The USDA releases its World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate report at noon Tuesday.

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

-The USDA will release its latest weekly export sales numbers at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 09, 2019 15:48 ET (20:48 GMT)

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