A mixed start is expected this am following mixed prices overnight. The outside markets are mixed also this am, drifting in a narrow range on either side of unchanged and not offering any guidance to the grains.

China announced they will auction 500,000 tonnes of beans and 2 million tonnes of corn next week. They tried to auction similar amounts of these grains this week with poor results and unless they lower their asking price, especially for beans, they probably won't do any better next week. There is little fresh market moving news this am so we could have a dull trading day with the usual late session evening up ahead of the weekend.

The monsoon remains spotty in India, benefiting some areas but neglecting others. Bean growing areas had good rains this week, for example, while rice and sugar cane areas had very little. We will probably see more of the same next week. Cool but mostly dry weather is forecast for the Argentine wheat belt the next 7 days or more, increasing the need for additional moisture soon.

The US Midwest will see light, scattered rain in the western half of the region the next several days while the eastern half of the belt gets up to 3/4" today-tomorrow and up to 1.5" early next week. Temps are forecast to remain cooler than normal. The 6-10 day calls for cool temps with below normal rain in the northwest, above normal in the southeast. More rain is desired in parts of Minnesota and the western part of the northern plains spring wheat belt. Otherwise, conditions remain extremely favorable overall.