December 11, 2007
 
CBOT Corn Review on Monday: Little changed before Tuesday USDA report

 

 

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures settled fractionally higher Monday, unable to build upon early modest gains based on technical buying and an upward surge in wheat values, an analyst said.

 

March corn settled 1/2 cent higher at US$4.17 3/4 per bushel.

 

The lack of fresh news and the inability of wheat to hold its early gains led corn to consolidate ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's supply and demand report Tuesday, the analyst said.

 

CBOT March wheat settled 8 cents higher at US$9.29 per bushel, well off the US$9.49 reached earlier in the session.

 

The average 2007-08 corn ending stocks estimate is 1.879 billion bushels, according to a survey of 16 analysts, slightly lower than the 1.897 billion estimated in November by the USDA. The report is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. EST.

 

Weaker-than-expected export inspections and a retreat to lower levels in crude oil futures also trimmed buying interest, a commission house analyst said.

 

The USDA reported weekly corn inspections totaled 38.426 million bushels for the week ended Dec. 6, well below the 50 million to 56 million expected by analysts and the 56.658 million inspected in the previous week. Through Dec. 6, corn inspections are up 10.2% compared to last year at the same time.

 

Corn acted "tired" after its recent strength with trading light as people are waiting on Tuesday's report for market direction, a floor trader said.

 

Price direction Tuesday depends on what happens with the USDA report, the trader added.

 

On daily technical charts, March corn made a new high for the recent move and set another fresh 5 1/2-month high.

 

In options trading, MF Global bought 4,000 March US$3.80 calls and sold 4,000 March US$3.50 calls. FC Stonnee bought 2,000 July US$4.20 calls.

 

Oat futures settled with good gains, boosted by commission house buying, an analyst said.

 

"It appears that commission houses were active buyers once March traded above its 100-day moving average higher on daily technical charts," the analyst said.

 

March oats settled 3 3/4 cents higher at US$2.84 per bushel.

 

Ethanol futures ended higher. January ethanol rose 3.4 cents at US$1.919 per gallon and February gained 5.4 cents to US$1.894.