Pre-Opening Wheat Market Report 20 October
December wheat was up 2 3/4 cents late in the overnight session. Outside market forces look positive today with a weak US dollar and strength in energy and equity markets. The market came under pressure yesterday due to weakness in a wide range of other markets and a continued concern for sluggish demand for US wheat. December wheat closed moderately lower on the session yesterday and down 18 1/4 cents from the early highs. Weakness in the US dollar and a dry outlook for the central and southern plains was enough to spark an early bounce for wheat and a move to a 5-session high, but weakness developed in the other grains to pull the market off of the highs and to just slightly higher on the day into the mid-session. Other news was slow, and a lack of new buying interest from fund traders and a sluggish global economic tone seemed to help limit the advance on the day for many commodity markets. Russia is still an active exporter on the world market, but some traders see a backlog of orders as a potential positive. The USDA already has revised US ending stocks to a record high for soft red wheat, and world ending stocks are at a ten year high. However, a poor start for next season’s crops in the US and Ukraine has raised some hope for higher wheat prices next year.