CBOT Corn Outlook on Thursday: Down slightly on planting; lack of news
Corn is called 1 to 2 cents lower. In overnight trade, July corn was down 1/2 cent to US$4.25 1/2 per bushel and December corn was down 2 1/4 cents to US$4.47 1/2.
Weather and planting progress remain the dominant themes in the market, as time has almost run out for producers in Illinois and Indiana to get their crop planted, analysts say.
"We think Indiana and Illinois will make some pretty big jumps here, and it's just a question of what that's worth from a price standpoint," said Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities.
He said that the planting progress won't cause the market to break but that it's "enough to probably slow it down on the upside."
The DTN Meteorlogix forecast calls for mostly dry conditions in the western U.S. corn belt through Monday. The eastern corn belt will see scattered showers and thunderstorms through Thursday night, with more scattered rains in the central and southeast corn belt on Monday.
Analysts said that beyond that, longer-range forecasts show average or above-average rainfall. The rains would be beneficial for the majority of the crop that has been planted, particularly in the western corn belt, which has been dry.
Traders said there is otherwise little news in the market. Outside markets are providing little direction, but corn will continue to be influenced by the U.S. dollar, which was stronger Thursday morning. A stronger dollar makes U.S. exports less attractive.
The next upside price objective is to push and close July prices above solid technical resistance at the January high of US$4.49 1/4 a bushel, a technical analyst said. The next downside price objective for the bears is to push and close prices below solid technical support at last week's low of US$4.06 1/4 a bushel.
First resistance for July corn is seen at US$4.31 and then at last week's high of US$4.34 3/4, the technical analyst said. First support is seen at this week's low of US$4.21 3/4 and then at US$4.17 1/4.
