Front month corn futures are trading near the top end of their overnight action with 2 to 5 1/2 cent gains so far ahead of the Export Sales data. The old crop corn futures bounced back for a higher midweek close. May ended the day 10 1/4 cents off its session low with a 3 1/2 cent gain. The new crop prices stayed in the red, going home 1 3/4 to 2 1/4 cents lower.Â
The FOMC raised short term interest rates by another 25 basis points to a new target FED funds rate of 4.75% - 5%. The Dollar Index was 0.9% weaker to a new low for the month despite the rate hike, and is currently off its overnight follow through weakness lows – up 0.02%.Â
Analysts expect the weekly FAS data to have between 1.7 MMT and 3.4 MMT of old crop sales in the weekly update. China’s bookings last week were nearly 2.2 MMT via weekly announcements, and most of that business should be included in this report. The 10 day total is approaching 96 million bushels, all for shipment before August 31.  New crop corn sales are estimated between 0 and 350k MT.Â
EIA reported ethanol producers averaged 997k barrels of output per day through the week that ended 3/17. That was the first weekly average below 1 million barrels since January. Stocks were drawn down 206k barrels to 26.188 million. We do note that implied gasoline use for the week was up 3.7% year/year.Â
May 23 Corn  closed at $6.33 1/2, up 3 1/2 cents, currently up 5 1/2 cents
Nearby Cash  was $6.37 1/1, up 3 1/4 cents,
Jul 23 Corn  closed at $6.11 3/4, up 1/2 cent, currently up 3 3/4 cents
Dec 23 Corn  closed at $5.54 1/2, down 2 1/4 cents, currently up 2 1/4 cents
On the date of publication, Alan Brugler did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
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