Mark's Market Talk for June 29, 2026

Another month has flown by, and we are looking at the Fourth of July holiday this weekend. A lot of years, we see some market movement around this time of year as weather issues sometimes pop up, along with old crop moving to town as we get closer to harvest.

Tuesday, we will have the USDA June Stocks and Acreage Report, and it can be a market mover. Sometimes it is a big mover. All of us get into the "local what I see out of my back door syndrome" and lose focus that the crop-growing area in the United States is not just Iowa. There have been a variety of weather issues across the Corn Belt, and the USDA tries to put the puzzle together in these reports so the trade has something to work from. Unfortunately, they are not always accurate, but the trade still has to use the information that is given to them.

This week is another four-day trading week as the board is closed Friday for the holiday. Lately, four-day weeks have been a little kind to us. We will see what happens this week.

Last week, corn closed down 2 to 3 cents. We saw a jump on Thursday when the hot forecast for this week came out. However, that story lost steam on Friday as most realized the heat will probably be beneficial this week because we need heat units.

Beans gained 13 cents last week on the prospect of China buying more U.S. soybeans. They bought a few, but they have a long way to go to reach the level President Trump says they promised in their May meetings. The weakness in the energy markets will also have an impact on prices.

The funds have shed their long corn positions, and as of last Thursday they were short 47,000 contracts. Bean traders have also reduced their long positions and stood at 57,000 contracts long. Both numbers are much lower than they were in previous weeks. That shows the trade is currently betting on a large crop. However, if a front were to stall during early July and the heat stays put, we could see them get excited real fast. Traders hate to miss opportunities on the way up.