Grains are around unchanged to close:

Sept Corn -1 cents/bu (5.48 3/4)

Dec Corn -1/2 cents/bu (5.48 1/4)

Nov Soybeans + 1 3/4 cents/bu (13.59 1/2)

Sept Chi Wheat  -2 1/2 cents/bu (6.74 1/2)

Cdn $ -0.00280 (79.415 cents)

WTI Crude Oil -0.26/barrel (71.65)

After shooting higher this morning due to a lower than expected USDA Crop Condition Report released yesterday after the close, grain settled down to close around unchanged. No major headlines or reports were able to feed the bulls or bears, so for most of the day, grains did basically nothing.

The infamous USDA Weekly Crop Condition Report yesterday afternoon showed a slight deterioration in crop conditions, versus the trade expectation for unchanged or slightly better ratings.

• Corn good/excellent ratings fell 1% from last week to 64% (5 year average is 68%)
• Soybean good/excellent ratings fell 2% from last week to 58% (5 year average is 65%)
• Hard Red Spring Wheat good/excellent ratings fell 2% from last week to 9% (5 year average is 64%)

Something that I saw on Twitter today from Andrey Sizov which posed a very interesting question was, If the U.S. spring wheat crop is the worst in 30+ years, what does that mean for the Canadian wheat crop? In the last WASDE update, Canada only cut their crop 0.5 million mt. If the U.S. crop looks so poor, it can be inferred that the Canadian crop is just as bad, and there may be even smaller carryouts than originally thought. This could lead to jumps in the wheat price once this fact is accepted by the trade.

Forecasts are now calling for a chance of storms in the 2-week forecast, which may put some pressure on the market for the rest of the week.

There were rumors overnight of China being in the market to buy USA grains on this recent break in prices.  That remains to be seen, as previous rumors of Chinese buying have not been substantiated in the USDA Export Sales Flash or Weekly Reports.  However, the threat of China buying is always good for a market rally!! No flashes were announced this morning, which may have led to the deflation of the prices as we progressed into the day. China has recently suffered a large flood, so the potential that they may need to purchase some grain to subsidize their losses would be practical, however, it may not occur.

Basis prices have been under pressure due to the Canadian dollar inching its way back up close to 80 cents. Coupled with that, wheat basis in Southwestern Ontario has been under pressure due to the large influx of wheat now in many local markets due to a good-sized crop.