A mixed/mostly higher start is expected this am, steady/mixed in wheat, 1-3 higher corn and 5-7 up in beans. The $ is higher, a negative indicator for all the grains but lately some of the grains, especially beans, have repeatedly demonstrated an ability to ignore the $'s dictate and trade independently. Many traders think this could be the case again today as beans were higher overnight despite modest gains in the $.

As was the case yesterday, Dalian, China bean futures were higher today, making new highs for the year for the second day in a row. This is the main reason our bean prices gained yesterday and again overnight. More of the same is likely this am.

Yesterday afternoon the weekly crop progress report showed 88% of the corn crop had been harvested, roughly as expected. Bean harvesting and winter wheat planting were not reported as they are all done.

Deliveries this am totaled 1500 wheat, 1300 corn and 600 oil.

ABARE, the Australian equivilent of the USDA, cut its Australian wheat production guess to 22 million tonnes from 22.7 million previously due to poor weather. Conab, the Brazilian version of the USDA, raised their bean production guess to a record 64.56 million tonnes vs their Nov guess of 63.05 million. They cut their corn crop guess to 50.15 million from 51.55 million in Nov but hiked their wheat guess to 5.1 million tonnes vs 5.04 million last month.

A widespread winter storm will sweep across much of the midwest today and tomorrow, especially the western and northeastern parts of the belt. Up to 1' of snow is likely from this storm, along with high winds, bringing corn harvesting to a halt with almost 1.5 billion bushels of corn still left to harvest. Dry weather is forecast to return to the belt Thur-Fri. The southwest winter wheat belt will also have a winter storm today but snow is welcome there to shield the young wheat crop from cold temps and prevent winter kill. Winter kill occurs when immature wheat is subject to freezing temps. Snowcover provides an insulating blanket that protects the crop against freezing temps.

Scattered, light rain is forecast today-tomorrow in parts of Argentina after a dry last 24 hours. More scattered rain is forecast this weekend. The new 6-10 day forecast calls for wetter weather in Argentina, which will be very welcome. Brazil remains wet with more rain forecast the rest of the week. Too much rain has slowed bean planting in the south but overall conditions remain very good in Brazil.