Glacier FarmMedia – Soybean and corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade both find themselves in relatively sideways trading ranges watching Midwestern weather forecasts to provide nearby direction.
“We’re looking for a headline right now over which direction to go,” said John Weyer, director of commercial hedging with Walsh Trading in Chicago, on the rangebound patterns in the two commodities.
For soybeans, he placed the July contract in a range between US$11.50 to US$12.00 per bushel, noting “we’re rangebound here… but if we get out of those bands it will take us one way or the other.”
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The United States Department of Agriculture is set to release updated acreage and stocks data on June 28, which should provide some direction. However, seeding delays in some areas this spring might result in some discrepancies between the official numbers and trade expectations.
For corn, “we need some serious weather changes to get us above US$4.70 (per bushel in the July contract),” according to Weyer. He placed support on the other side at around US$4.35 per bushel. For the new crop December contract, he placed the range at US$4.50 to US$4.80 per bushel and expected the top end could be tested if hot temperatures continue without any accompanying rains.
The soybean and corn markets could also find some direction from news out of South America, although Weyer said the reports have been both bullish and bearish at times.
