Mark's Market Talk for July 29, 2024

Last week was going just fine and dandy in the grain markets until we hit Friday. What started out as a little correction became a big collapse as the weather forecasts started to add some moisture into the two-week picture. Friday corn was down 11 and beans were down 31.  For the week corn still closed 4 cents higher and beans were up 12. Traders hate to go into a summer weekend long unless they are confident the weather will stay hot and dry. It looked like the funds were buying back their shorts earlier in the week, however they are still big-time short, so it must have been the day traders buying contracts earlier in the week and then they cashed in on Friday. With the funds still being short a change back to hot and dry weather could give us another run up. Time will start to run short on hurting the corn crop as it is pushing toward maturity. Beans on the other hand have more growing to do and will still need the August rains to finish out. The next USDA report will be out on August 12^th. They will update the predicted carryouts which will become the initial numbers they will use in their September report to carry into next season. The Pro Farmer tour will start August 19^th and it will be watched by farmers and traders alike. Until then it will be all about the weather.