Corn, Soybean Futures Climb After Week of Losses

Corn and soybean futures bounced ahead of the weekend after falling sharply in recent days.

Some improved weather this week prompted traders to race out of bets that hot and dry conditions would limit corn and soybean yields this season. But forecasts showed difficult growing conditions lingering in some places through the weekend.

"Hot temps will return to the northern Plains today and to the central Corn Belt by early next week, stressing those crops in the far northwestern Corn Belt that failed to get much rainfall this week," said Dave Marshall, a farm-marketing adviser at brokerage First Choice Commodities in Nashville, Ill.

That risk encouraged some fresh buying on Friday. Corn futures for September delivery rose 1.8% to $3.76 1/4 a bushel at the Chicago Board of Trade, while August soybean contracts gained 1.4% to $9.89 a bushel. Both markets still carried considerable losses for the week, however.

Mr. Marshall said traders had likely overreacted to a U.S. Agriculture Department report on Wednesday. The agency left corn and soybean yields unchanged despite the weather difficulties so far, and increased a number of domestic and global stockpile forecasts, too. Those numbers prompted a selloff.

Wheat futures were mixed. CBOT September wheat futures fell 0.2% to $5.10 3/4 a bushel while the Minneapolis spring wheat contract rose.

This year's spring wheat harvest has been severely threatened by a drought in the northern Plains. Now some analysts say the troubles are extending northward to Canadian Prairies, another major source of spring wheat.

"The hot and dry weather extends into Canada and could be hurting yield potential there as well," said Jack Scoville, vice president of Price Futures Group in Chicago.

Write to Benjamin Parkin at benjamin.parkin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 14, 2017 15:51 ET (19:51 GMT)