U.S Corn trade continues pullback

U.S. corn futures closed lower for the second consecutive day Tuesday as the market pulled back from 30-month highs. Corn for March delivery, the most-active contract, settled down 11 1/4 cents at US$6.44 a bushel at the Chicago Board of Trade. Widespread selling of commodities weighed on futures prices, as corn slumped with neighbouring soybeans and crude oil, traders said. Crude oil is linked to the grains because ethanol is made from corn.

An announcement that the U.K.'s economy contracted 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, well below economists' expectations of a modest expansion, served as the catalyst that triggered selling across a host of commodities, said Bill Nelson, analyst with St. Louis-based Doane Advisory Services, a St. Louis-based agricultural advisory firm. The neighbouring soybean market lost 2.1 percent.

"Sharp losses were posted in corn and soybeans today as funds liquidated their long positions," said Karl Setzer, analyst for Iowa-based MaxYield Cooperative. Commodity index funds sold an estimated 13,000 corn contracts, a healthy amount, traders said. Read more...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine from Perendale Publishers.