BS: Corn, Soybeans Called to Open Lower; Wheat Steady (Update1)
By Jeff Wilson and Tony C. Dreibus
March 22 (Bloomberg) -- What follows are opening calls for U.S. grain and oilseed markets.
-- Corn futures are called to open 1 cent to 3 cents a bushel lower on the Chicago Board of Trade as the dollar rose to the highest level against the euro in almost three weeks, dimming the appeal of commodities as a hedge against inflation, said Don Roose, the president of U.S. Commodities Inc. in West Des Moines, Iowa.
-- Soybean futures may open 1 cent to 3 cents a bushel lower in Chicago as the dollar rose and crude oil fell to the lowest price in almost three weeks, reducing the demand for fuels made from crops, Roose said. Soybean-meal futures may open 50 cents to $1 lower per 2,000 pounds, and soybean oil is expected to open steady to 0.1 cent a pound lower, Roose said.
-- Wheat futures may open steady to 1 cent higher on the CBOT, the Kansas City Board of Trade and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange as speculators begin to reduce a near-record net-short position before the Northern Hemisphere growing season, Roose said.
-- Equities declined in Europe and China for a third day, with the MSCI World Index dropping as much as 0.6 percent, and the dollar rallied on concern that increasing sovereign-debt burdens will hamper the global economic recovery. Greek bonds and shares fell. {NXTW NSN KZOLWY0YHQ0X }
-- Advanced economies face “acute” challenges in tackling high public debt, and unwinding existing stimulus measures won’t come close to bringing budget deficits back to prudent levels, said John Lipsky, the International Monetary Fund’s first deputy managing director. {NXTW NSN KZNLOB1A1I4H }
-- The dollar rallied for a third day on speculation that Europe’s inability to solve Greece’s debt crisis and rising global interest rates will stifle the economic recovery, denting demand for higher-yielding assets. {NXTW NSN KZOP900UQVI9 }
-- Greek 10-year bonds slid, pushing the premium, or the extra return investors demand to hold the debt instead of similar securities issued by Germany, to the most in almost a month, on concern this week’s European Union summit won’t help resolve the nation’s fiscal crisis. {NXTW NSN KZON2K0UQVI9 }
-- India, which on March 19 raised lending rates for the first time in two years, will keep boosting borrowing costs, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. {NXTW NSN KZOJ4O1A74E9 }
-- China’s feed mills may double their imports of so-called dried distillers grains with solubles, a by-product of a process that turns corn into ethanol, according to participants at a livestock-feed conference. {NXTW NSN KZNXMK0YHQ0X }
-- India won’t have any “problem” storing wheat this year, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar told reporters today in New Delhi. The government will start buying the grain from farmers next month. {NXTW NSN KZOITE6M62GX }
-- Ukraine’s grain stockpiles may reach 10 million metric tons by July 1, about double the average amount for that point in the season, according to Volodymyr Klymenko, the head of the Ukrainian Grain Association. {NXTW NSN KZOFO26M62GZ }
-- Heavy rain and storms were forecast for Sumatra, Indonesia’s biggest palm-oil, rubber and coffee producer, reducing concern that an El Nino climate pattern will cut the nation’s agricultural output. {NXTW NSN KZOECB0UQVI9 }
-- China’s palm-oil imports fell last month as domestic prices made overseas purchases unprofitable, and traders reduced shipments because of the Lunar New Year. {NXTW NSN KZO1PJ0YHQ0Y }
-- Palm oil fell on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange, extending two weekly declines, and may drop further on concern that supplies may increase. {NXTW NSN KZOK3P1A1I4I }
-- Farmers from Texas to India plan to increase cotton crops by the most in six years, a signal that the biggest rally in more than three decades is coming to an end. {NXTW NSN KZOKUF0D9L35 }
-- Gold declined in New York as the dollar continued its advance and India’s interest-rate increase dampened investor demand. {NXTW NSN KZOOQ507SXKX }
-- Crude oil fell to the lowest price in almost three weeks as the dollar gained against the euro, curbing the appeal of commodities as an alternative investment. {NXTW NSN KZORBA07SXKY }
--Editors: Ted Bunker, Daniel Enoch.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jeff Wilson in Chicago at jwilson29@bloomberg.net; Tony Dreibus in Chicago at tdreibus@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net.
