By Kirk Maltais

--Corn for December delivery rose 1.1% to $5.85 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Wednesday, supported by the USDA reporting yesterday that the U.S. crop condition has declined in quality from the previous week.

--Soybeans for November delivery rose 0.5% to $13.22 3/4 a bushel.

--Wheat for September delivery fell 0.3% to $8.04 1/2 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Withering in the Sun: The USDA reported in its Crop Progress report yesterday that corn in good or excellent condition has slipped 3 points from last week, to 64% good-or-excellent condition. Soybeans fell 2 points to 63% good-or-excellent. Indications of hot weather impacting the crops helped grains withstand further fund selling seen today. "Grains have found a little bit of support overnight as conditions ratings were lower than expected," said Richard Buttenshaw of Marex in a note.

Pressure Source: Pressure from outside markets was a stronger source for movement than U.S crop conditions for much of the day. "Seems like the U.S. Dollar Index continues to make new highs and that is pressuring things fairly well," Donna Hughes of StoneX told The Wall Street Journal. "I would expect that there is more fund exits as well as speculative selling." The USD Index trading on the ICE closed up 0.5% today.

INSIGHTS

Removed Premium: After finding record highs this year on supply-chain disruptions stemming from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, continuous corn and soybean futures trading on the CBOT are now down slightly year-to-date. Wheat is still higher from where it started the year at, but is only roughly 35 cents per bushel higher. "The washout in cotton, energies, metals, etc, are adding to the 'get me out now' mentality," Dan Hueber of the Hueber Report told the WSJ. "Flushes like this always extend further than would seem reasonable, and we have probably now entered that stage."

Historically High: Even with the volatility seen in grain futures today, prices are expected to remain on the high side of historical averages, said Capital Economics in a note. "Global monetary tightening, concerns about global economic growth and a stronger U.S. dollar weighed heavily on agricultural commodities in June," said the firm. However, potential supply deficits exacerbated by lingering fighting in Ukraine looks to provide support for prices, the firm adds.

AHEAD

--The EIA will release its weekly ethanol production and stocks report at 10:30 a.m. ET Thursday.

--The USDA will release its weekly export sales report at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday.

--The CFTC will release its weekly commitment of traders report at 3:30 p.m. ET Friday.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 06, 2022 15:01 ET (19:01 GMT)

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