Afternoon Corn: Another strong day of gains as more 8 AM sales rack up
<div class=\"default-font-wrapper\" style=\"line-height: 1;font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;\"><div style=\"line-height: 1;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;\">Afternoon Corn: <br id=\"isPasted\"> <br>No Turnaround Tuesday here; corn maintained Monday’s higher trajectory, gaining 6-7 cents in old crop positions and around four cents in new crop. Funds probably covered a few shorts today, leaving them net short around 75,000 lots. Cash trade was mixed; steady/firm in areas where harvest is drawing to a close, while Gulf bids were a little easier.<br> <br>Overall, it was another very quiet news day, but at least the 8 AM sales parade continued uninterrupted. Mexico booked another 359,500 metric tons of U.S. corn this morning. A rough tally of 8 AM flashes since the start of October shows Mexico has purchased 2.5 million metric tons of U.S. corn, and ‘unknown’ bought 1.8 million. The tempo of these purchases picked up materially on the recent market test of $4 CZ? Overall, a very strong start to the 24/25 marketing year; even better than a robust prior (23/24) campaign.<br> <br>The report-du-jour tomorrow is the weekly EIA. We think ethanol production should ratchet another small notch higher as seasonal turnaround activity wanes, rising perhaps +1% wk/wk. Blender demand should improve, but exports could take a breather. This should result in an ethanol stocks build of about +1% to +2%. The news here has not been so good, as the strong ethanol margin environment of spring and summer has given way to an autumn that is only slightly better than breakeven.<br> <br>Elsewhere, end-user markets were mostly firmer today excepting milk futures, which finished a couple percent lower. Dairy producer margins have also taken a knock this month? The big macro was mixed; energy continued its recovery, but stocks were mixed and the US Dollar a little firmer. Weather remains on track; mostly wide open for continued U.S. harvest, excepting a few showers in the upper Midwest. South American planting prospects have improved. South Africa could use a drink ahead of a broader planting push there. The CME conducted their periodic review of price limits and left corn’s unchanged (30 cents).<br> <br>In the options, November serial options expire Friday. Paper was said to pay 12 ½ to 13 cents for over 20,000 July $4.50-5.00 Call Spreads. Calendar spreads firmed, continuing recent trends. Corn gained a little on the beans (2-to-1) and the wheat. Eyeing the charts, Dec Corn tentatively held $4.00 chart support last week, which remains operative. We see minor resistance starting right here at $4.15 for CZ, and then layered every dime higher. Momentum indicators have turned up on the daily (and remain up on the weekly). The RSI has fully worked off its oversold condition (now sitting in neutral in the mid 50’s).</span></div><br><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;\">KJ</span></div>