Chicago soybeans dip on rainy Argentina forecast
Source: Live Mint
(Updates with closing prices)
CHICAGO, Jan 7 (Reuters) – Chicago soybeans ticked lower on Tuesday as expectations for rain relief in Argentina encouraged profit-taking, after drier forecasts and a softer dollar fueled gains during the previous session.
Corn moved up slightly as traders squared positions ahead of a U.S. Department of Agriculture supply and demand report due on Friday, in which the agency was expected to trim its crop estimates for Argentina and the United States.
Wheat inched up in a further recovery from Friday’s four-month low.
The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade settled up 1/4 cent at $4.58 a bushel, after reaching a six-month peak on Monday.
CBOT soybeans ended down 1/2 cent at $9.97-1/4 a bushel, while wheat moved up 2 cents to finish at $5.42-1/2 a bushel.
The weather in South America, particularly Argentina, has sparked futures-market volatility over the past week, said Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities.
While dryness is expected to build there over the next week, showers are possible in the 11- to 15-day range, Commodity Weather Group said.
Uncertainty surrounding incoming U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies continues to affect the markets.
A report by Rabobank analysts projected that U.S. soybean prices could drop well below farmers’ cost of production if Trump’s promised tariffs spark another trade war with China.
Trump denied a Washington Post report on Monday that his aides were studying a more selective approach than the blanket tariffs the president-elect has threatened. The report had pulled the dollar down from two-year highs in the previous week, making U.S. exports more attractive to overseas buyers.
The dollar bounced back later in the session on Tuesday as U.S. economic data showed a generally stable jobs market and robust services sector, indicating that the Federal Reserve will likely slow the pace of its current rate-cutting cycle.
(Reporting by Renee Hickman; additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Ella Cao and Mei Mei Chu in Beijing; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
