DTN Closing Grain Comments    08/31 13:50
   Corn, Soy Hold Stubbornly to Recent Gains While Wheat Comeback Falls Short

   To close the month of August, row crop futures were understandably softer
after a historic rally through the second half of the month, with noncommercial
speculators now holding extremely bullish price bets made even more remarkable
given the time of the year -- with U.S. harvest now just around the corner.
Wheat futures led the selling, spurred by overbought conditions and
profit-taking, but also likely due to reports early Monday that Turkey is
making another attempt to push a grain exporting deal in the Black Sea. The
latter was met with intense scrutiny, as evidenced by wheat prices eventually
reversing well off of early lows. Corn and soybeans were much more resilient to
open the week, alternating between marginally higher and lower trade before
ultimately settling higher by the close. In the Middle East, the U.S. launched
their first attacks in a few weeks over the weekend, sending crude futures
higher to open the week. Stocks were lower on inflation/energy concerns while
the U.S. Dollar Index fell after a strong Friday showing. Despite firm treasury
yields through the late summer, the U.S. dollar has struggled to find traction,
trending lower over the past two months.

Rhett Montgomery
DTN Lead Analyst

GENERAL COMMENTS:

   September corn closed up 3 cents and December corn was up 1 1/4 cents.
November soybeans closed unchanged and January soybeans were up 1/2 cents.
December KC wheat closed down 6 1/4 cents, December Chicago wheat was down 10
cents, December MIAX Minneapolis wheat was down 6 1/4 cents.