Grains are higher at midday:

Dec Corn + 7 cents/bu (5.39 ½ )

Nov Soybeans + 9 cents/bu(12.86)

Dec Chi Wheat + 7 ¼ cents/bu (7.13 ¾ )

Cdn $ -0.00475 (78.39 cents)

WTI Crude Oil -0.33/barrel (74.96)

Grains have shown very good strength today, in the absence of any overly bullish stories.  There are rumors of Chinese interest in soybeans, although we will need to see USDA confirmation of sales before being able to have any certainty of such buying.  Strength is also said to be coming from more “confidence” of inflationary pressures in the overall marketplace, and owning commodities (grains) is generally a good hedge against inflation.  US equity markets are generally higher this morning, while outside commodity values are mixed.

The EIA released their Weekly Petroleum Stocks numbers today, showing ethanol stocks increasing by 100,000 barrels to 20.1 million.  Weekly ethanol production actually fell in the last 7 days to 914,000 barrels per day, down 12,000 barrels/day from last week. 

Tomorrow, in addition to the USDA Quarterly Stocks Report tomorrow, the USDA will also release it’s Weekly Export Sales Report.  Expectations for that report are listed below.  The trade is not expecting anything too robust tomorrow, but the fact that most Gulf terminals are now operational may have spurred some traders to make more sales