Grain, Soybean Futures Lower on Good Weather

Grain and soybean futures fell on Monday as traders shrugged off concerns about recent bouts of bad weather.

Futures had some volatile days last week, with prices bouncing back and forth as traders tried to gauge the impact of rain and snow on this year's corn and wheat crops. But a spell of sunshine over much of the weekend, along with improving forecasts for the days to come, mitigated those concerns.

That left limited upside potential for crop prices already burdened by enormous stockpiles.

"The weather forecast was not quite as scary as they thought it was going to be," said Tomm Pfitzenmaier, founding partner at Summit Commodity Brokerage. "World supplies in corn, beans and wheat are still huge. There's not a lot of good reasons to be long."

Clear skies and dry weather in much of the Midwest over the weekend gave farmers a window to increase the pace of corn and soybean planting. Analysts expect the U.S. Department of Agriculture to show as much as half of the corn crop in the ground in its crop progress report on Monday at 4 p.m. ET. Farmers had planted 34% as of last week. They also expect to see soybean planting as much as double, along with a small decline in winter wheat crop quality.

Corn futures for July delivery shed 4 3/4 cents, or 1.3%, to close at $3.66 a bushel during Monday's session at the Chicago Board of Trade. CBOT July soybean futures fell 8 1/4 cents, or 0.9%, to $9.64 3/4 a bushel, while CBOT July wheat dropped 8 3/4 cents, or 2%, to $4.33 1/2 a bushel.

Outside influences had a mixed effect on grain prices. Crude oil swung higher after trading lower for much of Monday's session. A higher dollar, however, weighed on the competitiveness of the export-dependent U.S. grain-and-oilseed markets.

Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron's victory in the French presidential elections on Sunday was well received by financial markets generally. But the widely anticipated result wasn't enough to prevent a number of global markets from ticking lower.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 08, 2017 15:24 ET (19:24 GMT)