Tuesday, March 24, 2026, 6:50 am

Monday was a mostly negative day for our markets.  Spot corn closed down 6, spot soybeans closed up 2 1/4, harvest winter wheat closed down 7 1/4 and harvest spring wheat closed down 1/4.  In the overnight trade corn and the wheat sector are positive with soybeans now on the negative side.  Oil closed down $10.10 yesterday at $88.13 per barrel.  It is stronger in trading this morning with it now valued at $90.03 per barrel.  Our dollar has traded between a low of $0.727 US and a high of $0.731 US over the last 24 hours.  This morning it is currently valued at $0.728 US.

Our markets were once again directly affected by outside events yesterday.  President Trump made an announcement that the US would hold off bombing the electrical power grid in Iran for five days as they had very good talks between the US and Iran over the weekend.  Officials from Iran almost immediately dismissed that any talks were held but this did not matter as the markets decided to trade on what President Trump said first.  This led to a sharp decrease in the price of crude oil.

The commodity markets pulled back when crude oil prices fell with corn and wheat finishing the day on the negative side.  We should note that all of our commodities had a wide range of trading with roughly 20 cents being the swing between the lows and the highs of the day.

Soybeans were able to close a bit higher even with the pull back in the energy market.  There is some optimism that if the hostilities against Iran are coming to an end that this would bring the trade negotiations with China back to the top of President Trumps agenda.  Of course this would bring hope of increased soybean sales which would be supportive of prices going forward!  We also have to remember that President Trump is having his ‘Celebration of Agriculture’ this Friday and it is widely expected that the new biodiesel guidelines will be released at that time.

The soybean harvest continues to progress in Brazil.  It is reported at 66% complete.  This is behind last year’s 74% but is right in line with their 5 year average of 67% complete.  No problems with their harvest as their new record large crop makes it way to the markets.