Headlines:

  • Perdue Sees ‘Lack of Urgency’ to Clear USDA Nominees
    Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who got a historically late start on his job, told senators on Wednesday that it may be fall before they have a chance to confirm the top-level policymakers, such as the deputy secretary, who will put the Trump administration stamp on USDA programs. “It’s taking far too long with the undersecretary positions that we submitted to the White House,” said Perdue. Six nominees, including deputy secretary, were undergoing background checks by the FBI and Office of Government Ethics. “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of urgency in those areas to get people cleared,” said the secretary.
  • Commodities a top contrarian bet, says B of A Merrill Lynch
    Commodities look a top bet for contrarian investors, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said, after funds slashed their exposure to the sector at the fastest rate in seven years, amid economic growth fears. The proportion of fund managers saying they are “underweight” in their allocations of cash to commodities exceeds those “overweight” by 15 percentage points, according to a monthly survey by the bank. While well short of the most bearish positioning on record – with the net figure on occasion exceeding 30 points, most lately in 2015 – the growth in the figure of 12 points month on month was unusually large. It indicates the “largest drop since June 2010 in allocation to commodities”.

 

Summary:

The grain markets staged a turnaround today after being down big yesterday. It amassed positive gains across the board. Corn was up 4 cents, Soybean eked a small gain of 2 cents and Wheat was the biggest winner grabbing 10.75 cents. There was a large downgrade in Spring Wheat crop conditions and that may have been largely responsible for the big moves in Wheat complex. The Wheat conditions moved from 62% to 55% to 45% in the good to excellent category over the past 3 weeks. Spring Wheat futures soared reaching two year highs. Soybean futures were strong during the early session only to falter by the end of the day finishing close to the low end of the day’s range. The first soybean condition score was released yesterday coming in at 66% in the good to excellent category. That was a slightly lower than analyst expectations. The 66% level is, however, right in line with the 5 year average.