Indiana Grain Company, LLC

Posted: 07/27/10

By: tomgrisafi

Chicago wheat rebounded Tuesday on rekindled concerns that adverse weather in Europe and Russia would reduce crop potential and curb wheat output.

Soybean and corn continued to slip, pressured by bearish outside markets and improving weather condition in U.S. Midwest.

September wheat was up 5.5 cents, or 1.0 percent, to 5.95 U.S. dollars per bushel. December corn was down 1.0 cents, or 0.3 percent, to 3.77 dollars per bushel. November soybean retreated 0. 5 cents, or 0.1 percent, to 9.655 dollars per bushel.

The U.S. consumer confidence index dropped in July to its lowest point since February, according to a report from the Conference Board, posing a risk for consumer spending which accounts for about 70 percent of the U.S. economy.

The slumping consumer confidence heavily weighed on U.S equities and commodities markets on Tuesday. Gold plunged more than 2 percent, crude oil prices also softened after the data released, and a modest rally in the dollar all contributed to keep a lid on grain futures on Tuesday.

"Weather forecasts expected additional rain over the next two weeks with warmer temperature in U.S. Midwest, which is generally beneficial for the crop here, it should help maintain a very good corn and soybean yield potential," said Dan Cekander, a grain market analyst at brokerage Newedge USA.

"Corn is well ahead of normal and maturity. The hot weather has pushed the corn maturity so we're going to have corn harvest about one month ahead of normal, instead of May corn harvest in mid- October, we're going to have May corn harvest at mid-September. Anticipation of corn harvest kept a lid on the market," said Cekander.