Tuesday, February 17, 2026, 6:55 am

Friday was a mostly negative day for our markets.  Spot corn closed up 1/2, spot soybeans closed down 4 1/4, spot winter wheat closed down 3 3/4 and spot spring wheat closed down 5 3/4.  In the overnight trade all of our markets are on the negative side.  Oil closed up $0.05 on Friday at $62.89 per barrel.  It is stronger in trading again this morning with it now valued at $64.05 per barrel.  Our dollar traded between a low of $0.733 US and a high of $0.735 US on Friday with it closing out right in the middle at $0.734 US.  This morning it is down just a bit with it currently valued at $0.733 US.

Last week was a mostly positive week for our markets.  Spot corn closed up $1 per tonne with harvest 2026 up $2 per tonne.  Soybeans were up $7 per tonne for both the spot market and this year’s harvest.  Spring wheat ended up even for both old crop and new crop.  Winter wheat was up $7 per tonne on the spot market and $3 per tonne for this year’s harvest.

Wheat prices pulled back on Friday with a bunch of different bearish for prices news.  Some rain events are projected over much of the Southern US winter wheat growing areas that should replenish some much needed soil moisture.  Projections for the wheat crop in Russia keep getting larger even with some recent threats of cold weather damage.  Lastly, India has decided to allow exports of 2.5 million tonnes this year due to their abundant crop.  They only allow exports when their crop more than meets domestic requirements.

Both corn and soybean prices rallied on Friday as the trading day went on.  Corn ended up just positive with soybeans closing over 10 cents off their low for the day.  Rumours / thoughts that China could soon be making increased US purchases of these products help both markets to close well off their lows for the day.  China has been making increased purchases of sorghum from the US and this is leading some analysts to think that corn purchases could be next.  Increased soybean purchases will of course be made if President Trump has anything to say about it.

Speculative funds have recently increased their long position (looking for prices to go up) in soybeans.  They are betting on President’s Trump social media post from last week that China will be purchasing more soybeans after he asked them to.  This optimism did not carry over into the corn or wheat markets as managed money increased their short positions (looking for prices to go down) in both of these markets.