Oilseeds and corn fell sharply Friday on private forecasters’ increases to U.S. soybean crop estimates and on a general decline in commodities.
U.S. job creation was better than expected, leading to a belief that the U.S. Federal Reserve will pull back on stimulus and not print more money. That lifted the U.S. dollar against most currencies, but the loonie gained on the buck.
The stronger North American currencies pressured grain prices and other commodities lower.
November canola closed at $608.10, down $17.30
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January closed at $603.10, down $14.80.
For the week, November fell $10.80.
• Informa Economics today boosted its U.S. 2012 soybean crop estimate to 2.925 billion bushels, from 2.86 billion previously.
Late on Thursday INTL FCStone increased its soybean estimate to 2.959 billion bu., from 2.849 billion last month.
Both are higher than USDA’s current estimate for the U.S. 2012 soybean harvest is 2.86 billion bu. USDA will update that number on Nov. 9.
• For corn, Informa lowered its estimate of U.S. production to 10.738 billion bu., from 11.194 billion previously.
INTL FCStone pegged the harvest at 10.881 billion bu., up slightly from its previous estimate of 10.824 billion bu.
Both are higher than USDA’s current corn estimate of 10.706 billion bu.
• Wheat slipped only a little, supported by concerns about production problems in Australia and Argentina and about dry weather in the U.S. central plains where winter wheat is seeded.
• Palm oil fell 4.1 percent on the week as traders continue to worry about excessive stocks. Exports have picked up recently, but production is also expected to rise in the next few months.
• The Canadian Oilseed Processors Association said members crushed 149,140 tonnes of canola in the week ending Oct. 31, down almost four percent from the previous week.
That represented a crush capacity use of almost 90 percent, still higher than the year-to-date rate of about 88 percent.
• Statistics Canada said the economy added only 1,800 jobs in October, less than the forecast of 5,000.
The unemployment rate held steady at 7.4 percent.
Economists expected a decline after exceptionally strong employment gains in August (34,300) and September (52,100).
The U.S. economy added 171,000 jobs last month, well above the 125,000 figure analysts expected.
The jobless rate edged up a tenth of a point to 7.9 percent, due to an increased number of people looking for work.
Winnipeg (per tonne)
Canola Nov 12 $608.10, down $17.30 -2.77%
Canola Jan 13 $603.10, down $14.80 -2.40%
Canola Mar 13 $598.90, down $15.20 -2.48%
Canola May 13 $592.90, down $16.40 -2.69%
Milling Wheat Dec 12 $308.50, unchanged
Milling Wheat Mar 13 $318.00, unchanged
Milling Wheat May 13 $321.00, unchanged
Durum Wheat Dec 12 $312.40, unchanged
Durum Wheat Mar 13 $319.00, unchanged
Durum Wheat May 13 $323.00, unchanged
Barley Dec 12 $250.00, unchanged
Barley Mar 13 $253.00, unchanged
Barley May 13 $254.00, unchanged
Chicago (per bushel)
Soybeans (P) Nov 12 $15.27, down 31.5 -2.02%
Soybeans (P) Jan 13 $15.2675, down 33.25 -2.13%
Soybeans (P) Mar 13 $15.0375, down 29.75 -1.94%
Soybeans (P) May 13 $14.7125, down 21.75 -1.46%
Corn (P) Dec 12 $7.395, down 11.5 -1.53%
Corn (P) Mar 13 $7.425, down 11.0 -1.46%
Corn (P) May 13 $7.395, down 10.0 -1.33%
Oats (P) Dec 12 $3.67, down 13.25 -3.48%
Oats (P) Mar 13 $3.7575, down 13.25 -3.41%
Oats (P) May 13 $3.765, down 11.25 -2.90%
Minneapolis (per bushel)
Spring Wheat Dec 12 $.94025, down 3.0 -0.32%
Spring Wheat Mar 13 $9.465, down 2.5 -0.26%
Spring Wheat May 13 $9.5275, down 1.75 -0.18%
Spring Wheat Jul 13 $9.535, down 1.0 -0.10%
The Bank of Canada noon rate for the loonie edged higher to $1.0036 US, up from $1.0027 the day before.
The U.S. dollar was 99.64 cents Cdn.
Nearby crude oil futures in New York fell $2.23 to $84.86 per barrel.
In early tallies:
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index fell 119.35 points, or 0.95 percent, to close at 12,380.41.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 139.46 points, or 1.05 percent, to close at 13,093.16.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index tumbled 13.39 points, or 0.94 percent, to finish unofficially at 1,414.20.
The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 37.93 points, or 1.26 percent, to close at 2,982.13.
For the week, TSX rose 0.7 percent, the Dow was down 0.1 percent, and the S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent and the Nasdaq 0.2 percent.
