The week ended with most crop futures sticking with recent trends. Canola and soybeans continue to trade in a sideways range, beneath recent highs but still close to them.
Wheat futures have significantly fallen back from their recent highs, with both hard red spring wheat futures and hard red winter wheat futures selling off 70 cents or more in recent days, cutting out the legs from the bull market that had made wheat the exciting crop of the spring.
Better seeding weather in spring wheat areas is making acreage seem more secure, while a lack of big sales of export wheat has undermined hopes that stocks would quickly diminish.
Good weather in some parts of the U.S. Midwest has allowed planting of corn and soybean crops to steam ahead at great pace, catching up much of the ground lost to delays earlier this spring, although a cold snap in some areas has slowed development of planted crops.
Corn futures had a dismal week, their worst since last September. September futures fell from nearly $5 per bushel to just above $4.80, leaving behind important support at $4.90. Argentina’s corn harvest is progressing, but Informa Economics has downgraded its estimate of likely production.
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Alberta Crop Report: Rains in the south, dryness in the north
Rain fell onto the southern half of Alberta last week, while hot and dry conditions persisted in the northern half, according to the province’s crop report released on July 18.
Poor U.S. export sales have hurt corn’s price prospects.
Oat futures sold off on old crop months, with 10 to 13 cent losses, but the futures and cash markets are still poorly connected and the futures action did not represent cash market changes.
New crop canola and soybeans were both firm Friday, with small gains, keeping within the range-bound pattern of recent days.
Stock markets have been relatively flat in recent weeks in defiance of the positive economic news that would usually spark increasing stock prices. U.S. employers have been briskly hiring, corporate profits are at a record level and the economy appears to be set to keep growing, but many investors seem suspicious of the health of the “recovery,” plowing money into super-safe assets like Treasuries, utilities and bonds.
The old saying goes, “sell in May and go away,” and many investors appear to have done exactly that.
Winnipeg ICE Futures Canada dollars per tonne
Canola Jul 2014 488.00 +3.10 +0.64%
Canola Nov 2014 482.20 +1.80 +0.37%
Canola Jan 2015 486.20 +2.40 +0.50%
Canola Mar 2015 488.00 +2.60 +0.54%
Canola May 2015 489.50 +2.90 +0.60%
Milling Wheat Jul 2014 226.00 -6.00 -2.59%
Milling Wheat Oct 2014 226.00 -5.00 -2.16%
Durum Wheat Jul 2014 252.00 unch 0.00%
Durum Wheat Oct 2014 243.00 unch 0.00%
Durum Wheat Dec 2014 245.00 unch 0.00%
Barley Jul 2014 150.00 unch 0.00%
Barley Oct 2014 150.00 unch 0.00%
Barley Dec 2014 152.00 unch 0.00%
American crop prices in cents US/bushel, soybean meal in $US/short ton, soy oil in cents US/pound
Chicago
Soybeans Jul 2014 1465 -5.25 -0.36%
Soybeans Aug 2014 1399.75 -2 -0.14%
Soybeans Sep 2014 1274 +0.25 +0.02%
Soybeans Nov 2014 1221.5 +3.75 +0.31%
Soybeans Jan 2015 1227.25 +3.5 +0.29%
Soybeans Mar 2015 1231 +3.25 +0.26%
Soybean Meal Jul 2014 480.2 -1.2 -0.25%
Soybean Meal Aug 2014 455.8 +0.4 +0.09%
Soybean Meal Sep 2014 421.1 +0.7 +0.17%
Soybean Oil Jul 2014 40.75 -0.29 -0.71%
Soybean Oil Aug 2014 40.77 -0.22 -0.54%
Soybean Oil Sep 2014 40.71 -0.21 -0.51%
Corn Jul 2014 483.5 -0.75 -0.15%
Corn Sep 2014 481.25 +0.25 +0.05%
Corn Dec 2014 481 +0.5 +0.10%
Corn Mar 2015 489 +0.5 +0.10%
Corn May 2015 494.75 +0.5 +0.10%
Oats Jul 2014 337 -13.5 -3.85%
Oats Sep 2014 327 -12.5 -3.68%
Oats Dec 2014 324.5 -8 -2.41%
Oats May 2015 317.25 -5.75 -1.78%
Wheat Jul 2014 674.25 -4 -0.59%
Wheat Sep 2014 683.25 -3.75 -0.55%
Wheat Dec 2014 698.75 -4 -0.57%
Wheat Mar 2015 713.5 -3.5 -0.49%
Wheat May 2015 720.25 -3.75 -0.52%
Minneapolis
Spring Wheat Jul 2014 739.25 -15.75 -2.09%
Spring Wheat Sep 2014 747 -15.75 -2.06%
Spring Wheat Dec 2014 756.25 -12.25 -1.59%
Spring Wheat Mar 2015 763 -10.5 -1.36%
Spring Wheat May 2015 765.75 -8.75 -1.13%
Kansas City
KC HRW Wheat Jul 2014 767.75 -11 -1.41%
KC HRW Wheat Sep 2014 773.25 -10.75 -1.37%
KC HRW Wheat Dec 2014 786.25 -9.75 -1.22%
KC HRW Wheat Mar 2015 790 -9.5 -1.19%
KC HRW Wheat May 2015 784.5 -7.5 -0.95%
Light crude oil nearby futures in New York rose 52 cents at $102.02 US per barrel.
The Canadian dollar at noon was 91.89 cents US, up from 91.85 cents the previous trading day. The U.S. dollar at noon was $1.0882 Cdn.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was down 73.83 points, or 0.51 percent, at 14,515.06.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 44.50 points or 0.27 percent, to end at 16,491.31.
The S&P 500 gained 7.01 points or 0.37 percent, to 1,877.86.
The Nasdaq Composite added 21.30 points or 0.52 percent, to 4,090.59.
For the week, the TSX composite fell 0.1 percent, the Dow fell 0.6 percent, the S&P 500 dipped 0.03 percent and the Nasdaq gained 0.5 percent.
