US Dollar Index Continues Its Retreat

Corn and wheat tried to reverse course overnight following Monday’s slide while soybeans moved lower. In outside markets, the US Dollar Index continued to retreat, falling below the psychological 100-mark .

On Monday, NOPA crush figure for March failed to meet expectations for the 2nd month in a row with 153 MB of soybeans processed for the month vs expectations that averaged 156. Year-to-date crushings for the seven months of the marketing year are up 1.8% from the same period last year, while USDA expects a 2.8% bump in annual crush in the balance sheet.

After the close on Monday, USDA’s crop progress report showed only 6% of the corn crop had been planted. Although up from last week’s reading of 3%, it was still below the 8% mark expected by analysts and 12% for the same week last year. For winter wheat, US crop conditions inched higher to 54% good-to-excellent, up from 53% last week but below 57% last year. Of the winter wheat states, OK was notable in its decline in ratings to 43% from 45% last week.

In international news, Asia saw Palm Oil prices slide as did soy futures in China. Weakening hog margins in China combined with an increase in Chinese soy plantings for 2017 are likely weighing on prices. South Korea feed group MFG bought 137,000 MT of corn.

美国天气预报rains over the next week but looking ahead into the 2nd week shows a dry pattern for much of the US Grain Belt. Two week precip totals favor the Southern Cornbelt, the Plains and parts of IA/MN. Precip is expected to be limited in IN/OH.

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—Kevin McNew