By Kirk Maltais


--Wheat for May delivery rose 2.6%, to $6.83 3/4 a bushel, on the Chicago Board of Trade on Friday, with traders covering short positions as negotiations are expected to heat up next week for the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

--Corn for May delivery rose 1.1%, to $6.19 a bushel.

--Soybeans for May delivery fell 0.3%, to $15.08 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


Mitigating Risk: Wheat futures came off of trading yesterday with its lowest close since July 2021. Instead of driving futures lower, traders covered some short positions to mitigate risk ahead of the weekend, Terry Reilly of Futures International told The Wall Street Journal. The deadline for renewing the Black Sea Grain Initiative is also drawing near, with that deadline now only nine days away.

Follow the Dollar: A lower U.S. dollar index helped support the technical bounceback seen for corn and wheat in trading today, helping spur traders to reverse the selling trends seen in these commodities. "Finally seeing the markets absorb the heavy fund selling in the morning session," Brian Hoops of Midwest Market Solutions told the Journal. "With a higher close in corn and wheat, it would represent a technical reversal and should give us a technical bounce." Yesterday, wheat futures closed at their lowest since July 2021, while corn found their lowest since August 2022.


INSIGHT


Still a Factor: Although the window for rainfall to have a significant impact on the Argentinian soybean crop is closing, it is still impacting the daily movement of CBOT futures. Rainfall is forecast to hit growing areas like La Pampa and Buenos Aires next week, said AgResource in a note. The firm adds that further rainfall is expected later in the month, the firm adds, although how it effects the crop is uncertain. "The time for the rain to do any good is running out," said the firm.

Big Picture: Grain traders spent the week following developments in economic news, like today's U.S. jobs report, which showed employers adding 311,000 jobs but unemployment rising to 3.6%. Other bits of macro news like Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell's comments this week on interest rate increases were closely followed. "The main focus here is on the macros," said Charlie Sernatinger of Marex in a note. "The Fed absolutely crushed the market this week, saying that interest rates are going to continue to rise, which means a stronger U.S. dollar, which means hedge funds want no part of long grains."


AHEAD


--The USDA will release its weekly grains export inspections report at 11 a.m. ET Monday.

--The USDA will release its annual North American Grain and Oilseed Crushings report at 3 p.m. ET Monday.

--The EIA will release its weekly ethanol production and stocks report at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.


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


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-10-23 1530ET