Grain Hedge Overnight Highlights

Grains were lower in the night session, with light losses across the board. In outside markets, the US Dollar and S&P futures were higher while crude was lower.

Today, NOPA soy crush estimates will be released with expectations at 129.24 MB. If realized, that would be the busiest September for NOPA's member groups since 2007, when processors crushed 139.829 MB of soybeans. Soybean harvest progressed ahead of the typical pace during September, with reports of huge yields weighing on the market throughout the month.

French farmers had harvested 38 percent of this year's grain maize crop by Oct. 12, ahead of the 15 percent gathered by the same stage last year, farm office FranceAgriMer said on Thursday. In winter grain sowing, 39 percent of the planned soft wheat area for next year's harvest had been sown by Monday, against 31 percent a year ago, Bertrand Naturel, head of FranceAgriMer's crop monitoring service, told reporters.

In export news, Egypt announced another tender for wheat with the results expected by the end of the week.

Stock index futures were higher in overnight trade, even as consumer inflation fell for the 2nd month in a row. Consumer prices fell 0.2% in September, as economists had expected, the Labor Department said Thursday. Gasoline prices were the major depressant after slumping 9% over the month. Excluding volatile items such as gas and food, core consumer prices added 0.2%. Core prices are up 1.9% over the past 12 months, while consumer inflation has remained flat. The Empire State Manufacturing Index narrowed to negative 11.4 from negative 14.7 in September, though missed an estimated negative 8.3 reading. The index has not seen three straight months with readings below negative 10 since 2009.

—Brad McKinney