By Kirk Maltais
--Corn for March delivery fell 1.5% to $4.43 1/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Wednesday, reversing Tuesday's gain as investors moved money out of commodities.
--Soybeans for January delivery fell 0.8% to $11.16 1/4 a bushel.
--Wheat for March delivery fell 0.5% to $5.38 1/4 a bushel.
HIGHLIGHTS
Taking Cues: With the ADP reporting that private employers shed 32,000 jobs in November, investors pulled money out of many commodity futures while the U.S. dollar sank. "This morning's labor report was obviously bad, and that is removing managed money from several markets tied to the economy, including the ag sector," said Karl Setzer of Consus Ag Consulting. The sentiment that the Federal Reserve will likely cut the interest rate in its next meeting was bolstered by the ADP report.
Nothing New: CBOT soybeans were under pressure throughout the day, with analysts parsing available reports to determine the status of Chinese purchases by the end of the year. The USDA didn't announce any new flash sales of soybeans to China either, making the target of 12 million metric tons sold to China by the end of the year still far away. But media reports that at least six freight vessels are being loaded with soybeans for shipment to China gave traders some relief.
Building a Bridge: Analysts today speculated over what "bridge payments" announced by Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins on Tuesday may mean for the market. Some analysts question the motive behind further aid payments. "We continue to find the pushing of 'needed' farmer aid packages interesting with nearby soybean futures currently trading more than $1.25/bu higher than they were at this time last year," said Randy Mittelstaedt of RJO Futures in a note. Indications of coming aid packages are often understood by traders as a sign of no comprehensive deal with China in the pipeline, weighing on futures prices.
INSIGHT
Setting the Bar: U.S. ethanol producers are making barrels of ethanol at their fastest pace since the Energy Information Administration began reporting ethanol data in 2010. The EIA said Wednesday that average daily ethanol production for the week ended Nov. 28 was 1.126 million barrels a day. It's a record high, up 13,000 barrels a day from the prior week and beating the previous record of 1.123 million barrels a day set in late October. Analysts said that the new record is encouraging, although it didn't perk up corn futures Wednesday.
Competitive Crunch: Prices for Russian wheat exports are down by roughly $4 per metric ton since mid-November, said Black Sea consultancy SovEcon in a note. One reason is stiff competition from producers like Argentina, said the firm. "The strong Southern Hemisphere crop may not yet be fully priced in," said Andrey Sizov of SovEcon. The firm pegs Russian prices around $228-$230 per ton, while Argentina is seen at $208 per ton.
Waiting Room: The USDA said it won't update its 2025 farm-income forecast for the rest of this year, and will wait until February to release updated figures. It was originally scheduled to be published by the USDA's Economic Research Service on Tuesday, but the agency said that delays stemming from the government shutdown mean that the report could not be completed in time for its Dec. 2 release date. "Instead of compiling a much-delayed December Farm Income Forecast that would only cause subsequent delays for future work products, ERS will instead focus on preparing a timely release of the February 2026 Farm Income Forecast," a USDA spokesperson said.
AHEAD
--Hormel Foods Corp. will report its fourth-quarter earnings at 6:30 a.m. ET Thursday.
--The USDA will release its weekly export sales report covering the week ended Oct. 30 at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday.
--The CFTC will release its Commitment of Traders report covering the week ended Oct. 28 at 3:30 p.m. ET Friday.
Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 03, 2025 15:52 ET (20:52 GMT)
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