Market Perspectives May 5, 2016

Chicago Board of Trade Market News

Outlook: The case for bullishness remains but the more bearish perspective has returned more prominently. The harvest of Brazil’s safrinha corn crop is still two months away and may involve a larger planted area; the Argentine crop looks good and the U.S. crop is going into the ground quickly. A weaker dollar is helping U.S. corn exports and big money should see commodity prices at or near bottom, but it will take something new to actually pick them up off the bottom – be it adverse weather, a weakening dollar or speculative zeal.

There is still discussion about whether there was any spillover effect in Chicago from the $261 billion speculative trade one-day last week in China’s commodity futures markets. There is certainly coincidence.

Weekly U.S. corn export sales were below expectations and overall marketing year sales are down nearly 13 percent. The mood ahead of next week’s WASDE report may be profit taking.