By Dan Molinski

 

--Corn for January delivery rose 1.2% to $5.87 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Friday as investors sought safe havens to park their funds amid a Covid-induced sell-off in equities and energy commodities.

--Soybeans for January delivery fell a moderate 1.1% to $12.52 a bushel

--Wheat for January delivery fell 1.3% to $8.25 a bushel.

 

HIGHLIGHTS

 

Fear Returns: Grain futures saw a little bit of everything Friday. They joined other financial markets in broad-based selling early on, but then detached from the intensifying rout as the holiday-shortened session wore on, and corn even managed to close higher. "The charts look stinky going home, the Covid-effect is open to question for next week, and the seasonals don't turn up until December 10th," says Charlie Sernatinger at EDF Man Capital Markets, regarding corn. "So, how do you want to trade this? It would appear as if we have a multi-session correction coming at us, especially in light of the 'take-no-prisoners' break in petroleum prices today. In the big picture, corn is still making higher highs."

 

INSIGHT

 

It's Not All About Covid: While renewed fears over Covid are dominating all discussions among futures traders heading into the weekend, grains showed Friday that they operate more independently from "The Market" than many other sub-sectors, and analysts say next week investors will once again be eyeing crop yields, weather and other supply-side issues. "Wheat closed lower after making new highs for the move again as too much rain is falling on Australian crops," said Jack Scoville at Price Futures. "The rains could easily hurt the quality of the crop and might hurt yields. The Australian problems come as the north has seen its share of problems in the growing season as well and European prices went to new highs yesterday. Ideas are that the U.S. will have good demand for Wheat as the rest of the northern hemisphere is short production this year."

Weather Watch: While the big-picture question about the new Covid variant could certainly impact demand, weather will also be front and center. "The international 6-10 day forecasts call for below normal precipitation for the far south of Brazil with below normal temperatures over the north, below normal precipitation for the Argentine grain areas with normal temperatures, above normal precipitation for the east coast of Australia with below normal temperatures for the east, and below normal precipitation for the western half of South Africa with below normal temperatures," says EDF's Mr. Sernatinger.

 

AHEAD

 

--The USDA releases its weekly grain export inspections data at 11 a.m. ET Monday.

--The USDA will release its weekly crop progress report at 4 p.m. ET Monday.

--The USDA releases its monthly agricultural prices report at 3 p.m. ET Tuesday.

 

Write to Dan Molinski at dan.molinski@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 26, 2021 15:38 ET (20:38 GMT)

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