Friday, July 26, 2024, 7:05 am – Thursday was another mixed day for our markets. Harvest corn closed up 2 3/4, harvest soybeans closed up 15 1/2, harvest winter wheat closed down 9 1/4 and harvest spring wheat closed down 7. In the overnight trade corn and soybeans are positive, spring wheat is mixed and winter wheat is negative. Oil closed up $0.69 yesterday at $78.28 per barrel. It is weaker in trading this morning with it now valued at $77.87 per barrel. Our dollar had both a daily low of $0.722 US and a daily high of $0.725 US yesterday before noon. It has stayed within that level since with it currently valued this morning at $0.724 US. The soybean market gained strength yesterday from the soybean meal segment. Surprisingly strong US export sales for both old and new crop of soybean meal helped to drive prices higher. Generally speaking usually by this time of the year Argentina and to a lesser extent Brazil is dominating the world soybean meal market. It is a great sign for soybeans to see US soybean meal sales strong at this time of the year. A spring wheat tour just finished in North Dakota, the largest spring wheat producing state, and they are projecting a record yield of 54.5 bushels per acre. Canadian growers in the prairie region are not so lucky this year. They are currently experiencing a hot dry spell that has to be stressing the growing crop. This same hot dry weather is helping to fuel the current wild fires raging in the west. Friday’s thought: Your smile may be the sunshine of someone’s day. So keep smiling!
