HIGHLIGHTS
· MARKET TREND: CK, Up $.0075; SK, Up $.0550; WK, Up $.0525; KWK, Up $.0125
· OPEC fails to agree to production cut—Saudis & Iran can’t find common ground; oil slides but pares losses. ASIA: Nikkei closes sharply lower,down 3.4%; Shanghai falls 1.4%; the Hang Seng retreats .7%. EUROPE: Off the lows but lack of a Dowa agreement weighs on sentiment—CAC 40, -.06%; FTSE, -.08%; DAX, +.15%. U.S.Pre-Markets: DOW futures, -42; NAS, -11.75; S&P, -6.25. EXTERNALS: $ Index, -.074@ 94.725; Gold, +$4.30 @ $1,238; May WTI, -$1.43 @ $38.93
· T-storm Weather: Unusually heavy rain of 1.00”-4.00” expectedly affected most U.S. HRW wheat in the Plains over the weekend. A larger upper-level system swirls in the Plains today, producing heavy rain of 1.00”-3.00” across/near South Dakota and the eastern half of the Plains. The system then gradually swirls through the Corn Belt and Delta as it weakens throughFriday, producing pockets of rain and thunderstorms from time to time with scattered 0.67”-1.33” amounts expected across a large areas, but most notably across the Delta and southwest half of the Corn Belt. Temps will be seasonable to mild
· CK, Up $.0075 @ $3.7925; CN, Up $.0050 @ $3.8250. More fund buying on Friday, a total of 15 K
· SK, Up $.0550 @ $9.6150; SN, Up $.06 @ $9.7025. Fund activity: Bought 8 K SB; 8 K SBM and sold 3 K SBO
· WK, Up $.0525 @ $4.65; WN, U; $.0475 @ $4.7225. The funds bought 2 K to close out the week
CORN/SORGHUM         ;   </wbr>
· Export Inspections released at 10 AM CDT; Corn, 41.6 needed; 44.2 last week. Milo—3.5 needed; 7.1 last week
· USDA Crop Progress report (release at 3:00 PM CDT) could show U.S. corn planting as of April 17 at 12-14% vs. approx. 7% last year & 5-year avg. of approx. 8%, due to warm & dry weather over the weekend across the central Corn Belt
· T-storm Weather: Dry and hot weather prevail across Brazil’s winter corn belt for at least one more week. A cool front dissipates across southern areas early next week, triggering rain of 0.75”-1.50” for approx. 35% of production
· Commitment of Traders report: Non-Commercial long corn futures only positions increase 5,686 contracts
SOYBEANS/WHEAT
· Export Inspections released at 10 AM CDT; Soybeans, 8.0 needed; 14.2 last week
· T-storm Weather: Some rain affected eastern Argentina over the weekend, but most soybean areas were drier than expected with heavy precip focused just east of key areas. More rain is likely for fringe soybean areas this week
· Commitment of Traders report: Non-Commercial long soybean futures only positions increase 25,784 contracts
· T-storm Weather: Several days of dry & mild weather begin in all of central U.S. over Wednesday-Friday. Areas of rain then return to affect much of central U.S. April 24-30. The end result is HRW wheat remains wet the next 2 weeks
· Export Inspections released at 10 AM CDT; Wheat, 20.7 needed; 12.5 last week
ENERGY
· Weaker: CLK16, -$1.43, $38.93; EBM, -$.94; EBM-CLM, +$1.69, +$0.30; RBK, -$.0288; NGK, +0.023; HOK, -$.0154
· Cash ethanol markets were mixed on Friday: Chicago up ½; New York gained ¼; Gulf added 1 ¼; Tampa and Dallas declined 1; and LA was steady at $1.75 per gallon
· Ethanol RINs higher: 2014’s gained 3/8 to 73-73 ¾; 2015’s up 1/8 to 73-73 ¾; and 2016’s firmed 3/8 to 73-73 ¾
· The MayRBOB/May Ethanol inverse more than doubled, up $0.0434 to -$.0858 on Friday
LIVESTOCK/POULTRY   ; ; </wbr>
· Choice boxed beef values gained 70-cents on Friday, and at $225.13 are $10.33 higher vs. last week
· Light to moderate cash cattle trading occurred on Friday with prices in the South at $134—up $1 vs. las week
· USDA mandatory pork carcass cutout value increased $1.30 Fri. to $78.81, which is up $2.56 vs. a week ago
· CME Lean Hog Index was $0.04 lower Fri. at $66.67. May futures gained $0.975 and are $7.73 above the index
Sources: Bloomberg, Dow Jones, AP, T-storm Weather