By Kirk Maltais


-- Wheat for May delivery rose 1.9% to $5.48 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Monday, rising as selling in response to Chinese cancellations of previously purchased exports faded.

-- Corn for May delivery rose 0.3% to $4.41 1/2 a bushel.

-- Soybeans for May delivery fell 0.4% to $11.80 1/4 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


Selling Exhaustion: CBOT wheat led the grains complex higher Monday afternoon in a mostly technical move, Terry Reilly of Marex said.

"Grain markets are seeing a dead-cat bounce after selling ran out of steam in a sell the rumor, buy the fact post third USDA announcement for [soft red winter] wheat cancellations," Reilly said.

Monday's announcement made it the third consecutive day that the USDA confirmed China's cancellations of U.S. wheat exports.


Drier Outlook: CBOT corn caught support from a drier Brazilian forecast that may hinder the health of the crop.

"The volume of trade has been active with Brazilian corn futures rising on the worsening dryness forecast for Northern and Central Brazil," AgResource said in a note. The firm adds that because of the high cost of fertilizers, this crop has been under-fertilized and is more susceptible to dryness than in other years.

However, in its most recent WASDE report, the USDA didn't make any cuts to its outlook for Brazil's expected corn production.


INSIGHT


Aggressively Short: Friday's CFTC Commitments of Traders Report showed an increase in both soybean and corn short positions by fund traders for the week ended March 5. This comes despite talk from analysts that any large short positions will ease as the start of planting in the U.S. draws closer.

"Managed funds are still sitting on large short positions," said Doug Bergman of RCM Alternatives. "Look for funds to be buyers on pullbacks as they reduce their downside exposure ahead of the stocks and acres report at the end of the month."


Getting Better: Inspections of U.S. grain exports are higher across the board than this time last year, the USDA said in its weekly report Monday.

The USDA said inspections of corn, soybeans and wheat were all higher compared with this time last year. For the week ended March 7, corn inspections totaled 1.12 million metric tons, soybean inspections totaled 706,334 tons and wheat inspections totaled 402,874 tons. All of these exceed totals seen in the same week in 2023.


AHEAD


-- Archer Daniels Midland is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter earnings report before the stock market opens Tuesday.

-- The EIA is due to release its weekly ethanol production and stocks report at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday.

-- The USDA is scheduled to release its weekly export sales report at 8:30 a.m. EDT Thursday.


Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-11-24 1514ET