HIGHLIGHTS
· Market Trend: Corn, Up 2-3; Soybeans, 1-18+ Higher; Wheat, Up 6
· Little in the way of news this morning. Overseas markets are mostly higher. In Asia, the Hang Seng and Shanghai performed well, up .71% and 1.28% respectively. The Nikkei eased .29%. Europe is higher at mid-day—the FTSE, +.06%; the DAX is .45% to the plus side and the CAC 40, up .76%. Futures in the U.S. point to a positive start Dow, +23; S&P, +2.25 and the NAS, +10.25 as 2nd quarter earnings exceed expectations—S&P companies are on pace to achieve a 5.6% growth, above pre-report ideas of 4.9%. Energy futures are mixed; gold is 4.90/oz weaker at $1,299.80 and the $ Index is .045 lower at 80.87
· T-Storm Weather: Warm and cool air collide through the weekend, resulting in areas of thunderstorms. Beneficial rain occurs in some areas, but higher coverage would be ideal; the highest chance for organized rainfall is from eastern Iowa through Illinois and Indiana. A sharply cooler pattern follows for next week, keeping maximums mostly in the 70s with minimums in the 50s. Coolness limits humidity levels, and henceforth rainfall, meaning only a few showers are expected next week
· Sep Corn Up $.0275 at $3.6525; December Up $.0250 at $3.7325. The funds bought 3 K yesterday as beans lifted the market
· August SB Up $.1850 at $12.1950; Sep Up $.1475 at $11.1650. Funds bought 6 K SB; 4 K SBM and 3 K SBO
· Sep Wheat Up $.0625 at $5.37; December Up $.0550 at $5.60. The funds bought 2 K yesterday
CORN/SORGHUM
· Export Sales to be released at 7:30 AM CDT. Trade expects 12 to 20mbu old-crop corn, 16-24 new-crop
· T-storm Weather: July has been drier than average with Corn Belt receiving 83% of its average rain. That said, only 12% of corn received less than 2.00” the last 30 days and deep subsoil profiles stay moist regardless of future rainfall
· ATI Research: Rainfall in Bloomington, IL from June 23-July 22 totaled 7.74” compared to the avg. total of 4.04”
· Ethanol grind: 959 thou barrels per day for the week ending July 18—up 16 thou vs. last week and 12.4% vs. last year
SOYBEANS/WHEAT
· Export Sales: 6 to 9mbu old-crop soy, 44-53 new ; soymeal, 50-150 K MT old, 150-250 new; soyoil, 0-20 old, 0-10 new
· T-storm Weather: 61% and 27% of U.S. soybean production is drier than average at the topsoil and subsoil level, which is 25 and 20 points higher than on July 15
· Export Sales: Trade expects 13-20mbu for all wheat
· Chicago September wheat futures made a new contract low of $5.20 ¼ on Wednesday
· Winter wheat harvest in Michigan remains very sluggish at 19% complete compared to the 5-year average of 61%
ENERGY
· Futures are mixed: QCLU14, -$.34 at $102.78; QRBU, -$0.0047; QNGU, +$.002; and QHOUQ, +$.0023
· Cash ethanol markets were mostly steady to slightly higher on Wednesday: Chicago and New York added ½; Gulf and Dallas were unchanged; Tampa eased 4 ½; and LA was up 1 to $2.32 ½ per gallon
· RINs were steady: 2012’s unch at 51 ½-52; 2013’s stable at 51 ½-52; and 2014’s were unch at 51 ½-52
· The August RBOB/August ethanol spread snugged in further, almost 4 cents to $.7511 per gallon
LIVESTOCK/POULTRY    
·  After setting a record high on Tuesday, Choice boxed beef values eased 21-cents yesterday
· The USDA pork carcass cutout value fell $2.23 yesterday and has declined $5.97 over the last three days
· CME Lean Hog Index down $0.53 to $132.04. August future down $3.00 to $124.575 and are $7.465 below the index
· Broiler egg set last week was up 2.6% from last year and average set over the last four weeks is 1.2% above last year
Sources: Bloomberg, Dow Jones, AP, T-storm Weather