HIGHLIGHTS
· Market Trend: Corn, Down 2; Soybeans, SQ, up 3; others, down 2-4; Wheat, Down 3-4
· The Fed says it intends to stay the course, making further reductions to its bond buying program which is on track to wind down by October. Good GDP #’s but raises the specter of inflation and in turn, higher rates; stocks decline. Overseas, Asia had the Hang Seng up .10%; Shanghai closed .93% higher but the Nikkei slipped .16%. Europe is decidedly weaker: the DAX is .96% lower; France’s CAC-40 is off .69% and the FTSE, down .2%. U.S. future don’t exactly aspire much confidence: the Dow looks to open 83 lower; the NAS, 23-24 in the red and S&P futures, down 11 ¼. Energy futures are mostly lower as crude slips back under $100; gold is $.60 higher at $1,295.50 and the $ Index is .049 higher at 81.565
· T-Storm Weather: Cool weather with a few showers continues through Sunday; best chances for showers are across the northeast quarter to third of corn and soybeans. Coolness retreats next week as a milder pattern begins. The milder pattern allows a wave of energy to move across the central U.S. We continue to forecast scattered 0.50” – 1.00” rain amounts at that time, but will not increase or decrease amounts until our confidence is higher or lower, which is at least a day or two away
· Sep Corn Down $.02 at $3.5975; December Down $.02 at $3.6950. Fund activity Wednesday was net even
· August Up $.03 at $12.2350; Sep Down $.0375 at $10.9850. Funds sold 3 K SB; 3 K SBM and 2 K SBO yesterday
· Sep Wheat Down $.0350 at $5.2375; December Down $.04 at $5.4550. The funds bought back the 3 K they sold Tuesday
CORN/SORGHUM
· Export Sales to be released at 7:30 AM CDT. Trade expects 12 to 18mbu old-crop corn, 20-31 new-crop
· T-storm Weather: Subsoil dryness is increasing with 47% of U.S. corn having been drier than usual over the last 30 days, though it remains around 20 points lower than last year
· ATI Research: July 1-29 avg. high temp for Bloomington, IL: 2012, 92.6; 2013, 83.1; 2014, 77.8; long-term avg. 85.6
· Ethanol grind: 954 thou barrels per day for the week ending July 25—dn 5 thou vs. last week but up 14.7% vs. 2013
SOYBEANS/WHEAT
· Export Sales: 4 to 7mbu old-crop soy, 29-40 new ; soymeal, 50-100 K MT old, 500-650 new; soyoil, 0-25 old, 0-40 new
· T-storm Weather: 74% of U.S. soybeans were drier than usual the last 2 weeks, highest since March and above 2013
· National Weather Service to release updated U.S. forecast for August this afternoon at 2:00 PM CDT
· Export Sales: Trade expects 13-20mbu for all wheat
· Kansas City September wheat futures equaled the contract low of $6.11 on Wednesday
· Private consultant recent freezing temperatures in Parana, Brazil may have damaged the wheat crop
ENERGY
· Futures are mostly lower: QCLU14, -$.68 at $99.59; QRBU, -$0.0184; QNGU, +$.017; and QHOU, -$.0122
· Cash ethanol markets were weaker across the board on Wednesday: Chicago and Gulf eased 5 ½; New York down a nickel; Dallas lost 3; Tampa off 1 ½; and LA was 1 ¼ lower at $2.32 ¼ per gallon
· Steady to weaker RINs: 2012’s unch at 52-53; 2013’s off ½ at 52 ½-53; and 2014’s were ¼ lower at 52 ½-53 ½
· The August RBOB/August saw further weakness, off $.0244 to $.7103 as inventories rose 4% to 18.6 mb, 72 wk high
LIVESTOCK/POULTRY    
· Choice boxed beef values gained $1.52 yesterday to a fifth daily record high of $262.86
· After firming 11-cents Tuesday, the USDA mandatory pork carcass cutout value lost $1.58 yesterday
· CME Lean Hog Index down $1.00 to $127.91. August future down $2.30 to $119.15 and are $8.76 below the index
· Broiler egg set last week was up 2.0% from last year and average set over the last four weeks is 1.6% above last year
Sources: Bloomberg, Dow Jones, AP, T-storm Weather