Dec. 7 — Gold dropped today, which may be the beginning of a retracement after the recent multi-week surge to all-time highs. The U.S. dollar fell 15/100ths of a cent today.
Financial markets were down with no real economic news to stimulate anything; energy markets were mixed with crude down and natural gas up today.
Grains were mixed as beans ended with double-digit gains based on solid weekly export numbers; wheat and corn had very poor weekly export numbers and ended with losses for the day.
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Canola tried to follow beans but farmer selling and a rising Canadian dollar kept canola waffling throughout the day, ending with a mixed close.
Gold closed down $5.40 at $1,163.60.
The Canadian dollar closed up 0.55 cents today at US94.96 cents.
The Dow Jones December quote closed down nine points at 10,391 today.
January Crude oil closed down $1.54 a barrel today at US$73.93.
Corn was down 4.2 to five cents a bushel today, while beans were up five to 11.2 cents a bushel.
Wheat markets were down 8.6 to 12 cents a bushel today; Minneapolis December wheat futures were down 10.2 cents a bushel.
Canadian canola futures were mixed, up $1.10 to down 10 cents per tonne today.
January Western barley futures were down $2 per tonne, closing at $160 today.
The biggest surprise today as that canola was not able to keep pace with beans and show better gains on the day.
The biggest impact was increased farmer selling. Producers are thinking the rally may have topped out after last week, and with the holidays coming closer, it was a good time to do some pricing, which pressured the futures lower as the day progressed. When there’s a profit there, you gotta take it!
That’s all for today. — Brian
— Brian Wittal has spent over 27 years in the grain industry, including as an elevator manager and producer services representative for Alberta Wheat Pool, a regional sales manager for AgPro Grain and farm business representative for the Canadian Wheat Board, where he helped design some of the new pricing programs. He also operates his own company providing marketing and risk management advice for Prairie grain producers. Brian’s daily commentaries focus on how domestic and world market conditions affect you directly as grain producers.
Brian welcomes feedback and information on market conditions in your area, such as current offering prices, basis levels, trucking premiums and special crops contracts.
Brian will be off Tuesday (Dec. 8) and expects to be back with a new column Wednesday afternoon.
