It was a choppy trading session in the grain markets following a three-day weekend. At the close December corn was the bright spot, finishing the day 4 ½ cents higher settling at 486. November soybeans struggled to find their footing, settling the day at 1365, that was down 4 ¼ on the day. December wheat managed to close 3 ¾ cents higher, settling at 599 ¼.
Recent consolidation in the corn market has done little to alter the technical landscape. Friday’s Commitment of Traders report showed managed money, aka funds bought a net 18,787 futures and options contracts through August 29th, shrinking their net short position of 87, 348 futures and options contracts. Funds were net buyers of 32,779 contracts through the same time period, expanding their net long position to 90,985, their largest net long position since August 1st. Broken down that is about 119k longs VS about 28k shorts.
Hedgers, traders, and other market participants will be keeping their out for US corn and soybean production estimates as firms share their findings ahead of next weeks USDA report. Barchart.com was the first to release their own estimates this week, showing a national average corn yield of 177.6 bushels per acre versus the USDA’s August report of 175. They did reduce harvested acres to 84.2 bushels per acre, nearly 2 million less than the USDA, which puts total production inline with the USDA.