Chicago grains steady as U.S. election verdict awaited

Chicago wheat, corn and soybean futures edged higher on Tuesday as investors braced for the outcome of the U.S. presidential election while also looking ahead to a U.S. interest rate decision and crop forecasts later this week.

A weaker dollar and a recent run of export sales for U.S. corn and soybeans were underpinning the market, though bumper U.S. corn and soybean harvests and improving conditions in dry winter wheat belts kept a lid on the market.

The most active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade Wv1 was up 0.5% at $5.71-3/4 a bushel by 1227 GMT while CBOT soybeans Sv1 rose 0.2% to $9.99-1/4 a bushel and corn Cv1 ticked up 0.2% to $4.17-1/4 a bushel.

Financial markets are awaiting the result of Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election, which looks too close to call after a turbulent campaign pitching ex-President Donald Trump against current Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump’s proposed tariffs are a particular focus for investors and could disrupt agricultural trade, as in his first term in office.

“We can expect lots of volatility through the end of the week as votes are counted and as we approach Thursday’s Fed decision and Friday’s WASDE report,” Peak Trading Research said.

In two other major fixtures for markets, the U.S. Federal Reserve will announce its latest interest rate decision at the end of a policy meeting on Thursday. That is followed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) on Friday.

Traders are waiting to see how the USDA factors in the recent wave of export demand into its projections for U.S. corn and soybean supply.

Exporters struck deals to sell 150,000 metric tons of U.S. corn to Mexico, 120,000 metric tons of U.S. corn to unknown buyers and 132,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to unknown buyers, the USDA said on Monday via its daily reporting system.

In a separate report on Monday, the USDA said 41% of the recently seeded U.S. wheat crop was in good-to-excellent condition as of Sunday, an improvement from the previous week but still the second-lowest score on record.

Wheat traders were also assessing results from an import tender held by Egypt on Monday, in which state grains buyer GASC bought 290,000 tons of wheat.

Russian wheat was overlooked, with an export price floor appearing to make the origin less competitive, as GASC booked supplies from elsewhere in the Black Sea region.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Peter Hobson in Canberra, Editing by Sumana Nandy, Rashmi Aich and David Goodman)