Corn Futures Slide as Technical Support Gets Broken - Daily Grain Highlights

By Kirk Maltais

--Corn for December delivery fell 1.6%, to $4.66 3/4 a bushel, on the Chicago Board of Trade on Monday, leading declines seen in row crop futures to start the week.

--Wheat for December delivery fell 0.7%, to $6.56 a bushel.

--Soybeans for November delivery fell 0.7%, to 12.53 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Financial Floor: In a note Monday, AgResource said corn futures have now fallen below where the firm had pegged the support level for prices at. This potentially opens the door for a further drop in price stemming from the failure of prices to stay above the $4.70/ a bushel level, said the firm. "The market feels bearish as the U.S. harvest pushes strongly ahead amid open weather," said AgResource--with news of more higher-than-expected yield figures enough to send futures lower.

Less Exposure: Friday's Commitment of Traders report from the CFTC showed a decrease in long positions held by fund traders in grains futures. In corn, fund traders cut long positions in corn by nearly 63,000 contracts for the week ended Oct. 13. In soybeans, long positions were reduced by over 6,200 contracts. Long positions in wheat futures were also decreased by roughly 9,000, to 10,000 contracts, for wheat, according to the report. The reduction in long positions in corn was the largest decrease seen in the week's report, Ole Hansen of Saxo Bank said in a note.

INSIGHT

Extended Streak: A downturn in wheat futures that started in early September appears to be continuing this week. "Wheat has been the leader to the downside over the last several weeks, with a 7-week streak of losses," Austin Schroeder of Price Futures Group said in a note. Fears around a historically small U.S. wheat crop have subsided, as a new winter wheat crop gets seeded in the U.S. Plains.

Back to the Market: The USDA announced new flash sales of grain exports Monday morning. In its latest notice, the USDA said that 114,000 metric tons of soybeans were sold for delivery to China in the 2026/27 marketing year. An additional 261,000 tons of soybeans were listed as sold to unknown destinations for 2026/27 delivery. 'Unknown destinations' is often another moniker for sales to China, although not necessarily the case. The notice continues a streak of sales announcements to China that began last week.

Inspections Rise: Export inspections of U.S. soybeans rose from the previous week and prior year, said USDA data. Soybean export inspections for the week ended Oct. 16 were 2 million metric tons, up from 1.11 million tons at this time last week and 1.59 million tons at this time last year. Corn and wheat export inspections were lower than this time last week and last year, with corn totaling 672,475 tons for the week, and 240,308 tons for wheat. Vietnam was the leading destination for U.S. wheat for the week, while Mexico was the top destination for corn and China was the leading destination for soybeans.

AHEAD

--The EIA will release its Weekly Petroleum Status Update report at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.

--The USDA will release its weekly export sales report at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday.

--The USDA will release its monthly Cattle on Feed report at 3 p.m. ET Friday.

--The USDA will release its monthly Cold Storage report at 3 p.m. ET Friday.

--The CFTC will release its weekly Commitment of Traders report at 3:30 p.m. ET Friday.

Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 19, 2026 15:20 ET (19:20 GMT)