Pre-Opening Corn Market Report for 1/25/2011

March corn was down 9 1/2 cents late in the overnight session. Outside forces look bearish this morning with weaker energy markets and a strong US dollar. The corn market pushed sharply lower overnight as long liquidation selling pressures emerged for many commodity markets. A combination of higher interest rates in India, the continued inflation fight in China and warnings from the head of the UN food agency that the world may be headed for another food crisis that could threaten political instability have been seen as short-term negative forces. Traders see the call for increased regulation to deal with speculation on agricultural commodity futures markets as something that could spark more long liquidation selling from speculators. The market closed near unchanged on the session yesterday after choppy and two-sided trade. The early rally pushed December corn to a new high for the move before closing unchanged on the day. The market was supported early by strong wheat prices and ideas that US planted area may need to expand from current expectations. However, weakness in the soybean complex and good weather in the forecast for Argentina this week helped to pressure the market. Traders see the potential for a slight improvement of crop conditions in Argentina with the improving weather outlook and continued good crop conditions in Brazil as negative forces. But while Argentina may have seen some improvement in their soybean crop, their corn crop may have experienced permanent damage due to the stressful weather that occured pollination. Weekly export inspections came in at 25.87 million bushels, which was a little higher than trade expectations but below the 40.6 million necessary each week to reach the current USDA projection.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.

(Source: http://community.nasdaq.com/News/2011-01/preopening-corn-market-report-for-1252011.aspx?storyid=54645)