Chicago corn, wheat and soybean futures all sharply rose Friday after the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s Quarterly Grain Stocks report paved the way for bullish levels for corn and wheat, and trader enthusiasm also extended to the soybean market.
The most active corn contract for December delivery jumped 40 cents, or 5.58 percent, to close at 7.5625 dollars per bushel. December wheat soared 47 cents, or 5.49 percent, to settle at 9. 025 dollars per bushel. November soybeans sharply rose 30.25 cents, or 1.93 percent, to close at 16.01 dollars per bushel.
After a week largely marked by losses, the grains all rallied Friday and closed at or near session highs. Corn settled at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's daily limit, and wheat gained almost 5.5 percent. Soybeans also sharply rose on the session, though not as much as the other crops.
Driving trading was the morning release from the USDA concerning US quarterly stocks.
According to the USDA, corn stocks in all positions on September 1 totaled 988 million bushels, down from the 1.11 billion bushels expected. Wheat stocks were 2.104 billion bushels, off slightly from the 2.278 billion bushels previously estimated.
Traders seized on the lower stocks numbers and raced to buy the agricultural commodities that had largely been sold off earlier in the week. Market analysts see the lower wheat stocks figure as an indication that farmers have increasingly been using wheat as feed, and the lower corn stocks figure brushed off previous trader concerns of a lagging corn demand.
The USDA soybean stocks report was not considered as positive as the data for corn and wheat, as soybean stocks of 169 million bushels exceeded trader expectations of 131 million bushels. However, a Chinese purchase of 180,000 tones of US 2012-2013 soybeans helped the market regain some early losses, and the positive atmosphere in corn and wheat trading helped propel soybeans to a high close.
The USDA report was supportive enough that the grains were able to override a largely negative outside market atmosphere. The session saw a sharply higher dollar, as well as losses in gold and US equities.
